


Unbreakable

by badluckvixen13 (alteringviews)



Series: 1 Million for Black Hermione [9]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alpha Viktor, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Military, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, BAMF Hermione Granger, Black Hermione Granger, F/M, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Omega Hermione
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-18 01:33:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9359714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alteringviews/pseuds/badluckvixen13
Summary: If only the war was their only problem, Viktor wouldn't be as on edge as he was and Hermione probably wouldn't be in an Omega Whorehouse.Yeah, everyone would be living a much different life. As it stands, they're racing a ticking clock and are praying to the moon, the stars, and anything that could have loved them that their last hope is one worth putting stock in. Viktor would rather be shot on the spot than let the government do what they want to "fix" his problem.





	1. Dreams To Dust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The war is over, but Viktor still has one last battle to fight... 
> 
> And he's losing. 
> 
> "Synthesized hormones, surgery, or..."
> 
> "Or?"
> 
> "You find an omega."
> 
> Luckily for him, someone else is fighting, and losing, that same battle.

The war had started nearly a hundred years ago with a group of alphas who vied for alpha supremacy. It had been started when the humans fought back and slowly the werewolves had joined. A war that grew beyond their colonies and beyond their control as the Alpha Supremacists who called themselves Death Eaters gained alliances from all over the universe.

As more of the werewolf population began to join the fight and the old regimes were replaced with new ones, it became apparent that there was more than just dynamic equality at stake, but perhaps the stability of the entire universe. Magic, after all, was a dangerous thing which few could control completely. Whenever a magic user fell on either side of the divide, the war shift which was why it had lasted so long in the first place.

To think that it had all ended with one small unit, infiltrating enemy territory to send decades of systematic terrorism crashing down. While the main regime had been destroyed, that hadn’t meant that the war was completely over. There were still the remnants and reparations that had to considered and handled before it could really all be over.

He should have been helping with that, should have been preparing in case the war really wasn’t as over as everyone hoped. After all, a hundred year war wasn’t really ended in a day.

As it was, he was civilian side.

Viktor wanted to kill something.

Given that he was a werewolf, an alpha werewolf, taken off the front lines and put behind a desk because of something he couldn't control-- it was considered normal. Healthy even, depending on who you were talking to...at least that’s what his doctors said. He hated not feeling like he was in control which only made the situation worse because he was definitely _not_ in control and hadn’t been for a very long time.

You see, it started during his last mission. He couldn’t remember parts of it, but from the outcome and the fact that his unit had all come back alive, he took it to mean that he’d just gotten a little too focused, maybe raged out a little bit and everything would be back to normal soon. Then, there was more and more pieces of time missing. He’d wake up covered in blood with the taste of animal flesh in his mouth. They’d sent him home after on such incident, during which he'd been missing for three days and assigned him desk duty. He thought it was just PTSD, his wolf still not settling into the mundaneness of the desk life, his wolf finally just reacting to the full horror of war…

Then, he’d nearly killed someone. Mind you, the man was threatening his cousin, attacking her, and he was well within his rights to do so as the alpha relative who was present, but Viktor wasn’t the kind of man to rage out. He wasn’t the kind of man to lose control like that. He thought it was just pent up frustration from being reassigned when people were still on the front line fighting for their lives, thought that once his term behind a desk was over he could go back to doing what he was good at and everything would be okay. Ivan, his best friend, since they were barely old enough to stand, his handler, agreed but suggested that he go in to his usual check up and tell his doctor about the escalating incidents.

He told his doctor this as she ran tests on his blood. Told her about the incidents as he remained strapped down for the scans she usually put him through. And then she said the one thing that had haunted his nightmares for years.

“It's called Overdrive.”

Viktor remained bound to the floating gurney, the power of that term stealing his breath and Ivan tensed beside him. He could feel Ivan’s need to look at him, to gauge his reaction, but he knew that the other wouldn’t. He would give Viktor a moment to settle maybe, to come to terms with it.

Overdrive….

 _Overdrive,_ somewhere his heart was pounding too loud and he couldn’t breathe.

It couldn’t be that. Anything but that, it couldn’t be. He’d done everything he was supposed to, he’d been screened every four months for the propensity. He’d followed protocol to the letter-- it was why he was there in the first place! Why he was behind a desk and not in the field-- he'd done everything he was supposed to. Took his government assigned pills regularly, went in for check-ups regularly. He'd never--

He’d--

“I know what it's called,” he said gruffly. “Give me the injections and let me get back to work.”

The woman sighed and moved to show him a chart. Once the image was up, she began to tell him the truth. All Alphas after getting out of the military or taken off the front lines were put on a regimen of beta hormones to regulate them back into civilian life, beyond the supplements they were given. Even when they were on rotation they were given the injections to keep them steady. Usually, it worked out well.  For most alphas, beta hormones were just the fix they needed to keep their heads on straight. Some units with betas in them simply shared quarters and took in beta hormones directly allowing them to be in the field for much longer missions. Viktor’s unit was all alpha, delta, and human, relying on the mix to keep everything steady.

“As a precaution of course, but sometimes that isn't enough, sometimes the alpha’s body rejects it.”

He frowned, his gut twisting and his blood running cold. He knew it in the pit of his soul, knew it with each passing day that something was wrong, something was terribly wrong no matter how stringent he’d been on himself to get screened and checked on frequently. How could this have happened? He'd done everything he was supposed to do to avoid this. He'd promised his mother to do it and held himself to that promise....

How was this possible?

She pulled up his records and his handler sat beside him, Ivan, grimaced. He’d been assigned to Viktor because they had a history and the familiar always helped alphas ease out of military habits and back into something like civilian life. Sure, he still worked for the military but he wouldn't be going on any missions anytime soon and Ivan would be there to keep him grounded on that side of the line for as long as he was there.

Looking at the chart, the fact that the woman felt the need to bring it out, her expression….He knew immediately that this was not going to be a simple fix. How was this possible? How could it have gotten to this point before someone saw fit to _tell_ him? Was she even choosing to tell him now or simply left without a choice? Telling him on orders? How could it have been? As much as he’d trained, as much as his family history pointed to this fact… How could he have been so foolish as to think that maybe he was would have avoided this fate no matter what the doctors said?

He wondered if they knew all along and just kept putting him on the front lines in the hope to get as much as they could from him before he went completely insane. Wondered if they cared about the rest of his unit being in danger because he was potentially unstable and they hadn’t seen fit to keep him civilian side. Wondered if they would have ever told him if they could help it. 

His blood boiled-- _didn’t they care?_

How dare they put his pack in danger after everything they’d been through? Everything they’d done for the world? The Milky Way Confederate--

Moon damn them all.

“The blue line is a normal alpha line post the military with the basic introduction of beta hormones, the green and red are more severe cases with higher levels introduced into the system.”

She pressed a button and a jagged black line cut through the chart area, starting above the other lines and rocketing up with several marks in time where there was the steepest incline. The black line was him and he felt sick. Ivan squeezed his hand as his breath caught.

How was he going to tell his mother about this? His unit? What was he going to do?

 _Kill them,_ a small voice whispered and he flinched at the sound of it. Refusing to turn and look into the darkness behind him, that siren call that had been getting stronger for months.

It was just like his grandfather told him…

The voice always came when he was standing on the edge.

 _Hold it together, Viktor,_ he thought, clenching his fist and closing his eyes against the rising panic. His mind racing, he couldn't do this. This couldn't be happenign.

_Calm down, you'll make it worse--_

_Kill them._

“Your body doesn't seem to just reject beta hormones, but they seem to aggravate the problem.”

Viktor growled, “Why wasn't I told this before? What is the point of coming here to be poked and prodded every few weeks if no one tells me anything?!”

The woman sighed, she couldn't answer that. The main part of the war had ended unexpectedly.  Soldiers like Viktor had been thrown into the re-entry program almost too fast because everyone was eager to focus on rebuilding the population rather than the deaths that had happened and were still happening during the cleanup. Sure, there were still battle to be fought, but they were handled by units who hadn’t been in the field non-stop for years.

Viktor's unit had been in the field since he'd enlisted at eighteen.

_Hold it together, Viktor…_

_Blood,_ the voice said, laughing darkly.  _Blood._

He felt his hands shaking, his heart beating out of control and the surge of power rising. He panted, squeezing his eyes shut, trying to fight down the tide. He hated this feeling, it always proceeded the darkness, the lost time. 

_Help me. Luna, help me!_

_Blood! Blood! Blood!_

“What are his options?” Ivan asked calmly. “And will it get worse?”

The woman sighed, “Synthesized hormones, surgery, or…”

“Or?”

“You find an omega.”

Ivan groaned and Viktor ripped through his bonds, eyes glowing red and murderous. The doctor gasped, stumbling out of her seat and Ivan stood in front of him, drawing a solid boundary for Viktor to throw himself against. The rage and bloodlust too much to contain, aggravation not helping. Viktor couldn't function like this. His blackout rages had been the reason they were there today as Viktor was anything but an angry person. There was no more denying it, seeing him like this. Out of his mind with a rage that he couldn’t fully understand and wouldn’t remember completely.

Luna, it was bad. How had he not seen this? He scoffed, probably because he knew that Viktor had been overly diligent about getting himself checked out.

“Given how his body reacted to the beta hormones… synthetic will probably only make it worse.”

“He will not let anyone mess around with his soul,” Ivan told her as Viktor snarled, mouth open, fangs extended, probably on the edge of shifting. “An omega is really the only option.”

She nodded, “I'll draw up the paperwork…How long does this usually last?”

“It's been getting longer as of late. Sometimes a few minutes, sometimes up to a few hours. We usually go running…”

This time it lasts for an hour and thirty-seven minutes before his body is too tired and he slumps whimpering and clutching his head, frightened and delirious. It takes another thirty minutes before Viktor can communicate again. He knows from the state of the gurney, the way his hands are sticky with his own blood what happened. The voice in back of his mind is only laughing softly at him, slipping back into the shadows, but Viktor knows it's there. He closed his eyes, refusing to turn around, to look, to be hypnotized by it. 

His heart was still pounding, he was shaking, maybe going into shock from the sheer  _terror_.

Luna, he had Overdrive. 

Overdrive bad...

Probably Level 4, teetering into 5--the place of no return. 

He couldn't.

He couldn't--

“I'm sorry,” he whispered, low and shamed.

Ivan kneeled to pull him close, knowing that at the least familiar scents helped calm him. To ease the pain of fighting for control in his own body. It felt like madness and nothingness all at once, but it was almost addicting in its simplicity.

“It's not your fault Viktor, you’re sick… we'll find something. I promise.”

Viktor trembled, letting out shuddering breaths and trying to soothe himself with Ivan’s familiar presence.

“Come on, let's get you home.”

Viktor nodded, he couldn't work like this. He needed… to rest or something perhaps.

“How am I going to tell her?” Viktor asked softly, still shaking from the aftermath.

The voice had gone quiet again, no longer laughing in the dark,  but there was no telling when it would speak up again. He knew the trick was simply not to turn around, but it wasn’t that simple...

Nothing was that simple any longer. He was a ticking time bomb who's timer was controlled by something else. 

*

“Either you are crazy or you have a death wish.”

She didn’t bother to say anything around her own wretching. The taste of that alpha had been like pouring tar on her tongue. Her wolf had lashed out, angry and not to be fucked with and she could only hope that the woman was okay. She clenched her shaking brown hands trying to breathe through the surge in her not just from the alpha, but from her caretaker’s annoyance as well.

Of course, she didn’t have a fucking death wish, but at the moment she had no damn choice. Better a bit of injury than Hermione killing the woman.

The woman who was supposed to be taking care of her while here at Heaven’s Rapture Omega Center had to be the most self-loathing beta she’d ever met. It wasn’t as if they didn’t have it good. They could literally do anything they wanted without interference from the government. They weren’t doped up unknowingly, put into Overdrive, used, abused, and then shut away for fear of them going Feral again or hope they'd go Docile to spare themselves the headache of a cover up. She considered them the luckiest dynamic for not having to deal with this self-destructive streak omegas had.

Sure, Alphas in Overdrive had the danger of going Feral, losing their minds and being lost to anything beyond the sound of war, but omegas, in her utmost logical opinion, had it the worse.

If you didn’t go Feral, fighting anything and everything, then you went Docile and the government put you to work in one of their many fine prostitution establishments throughout the galaxy for the sake of betas and alphas who needed a boost before, or after, returning from the field. Hell, they put you to work in such institutions if you weren't mated by a certain age too in order to "control the omega populace" and ensure a consistent pheromone source for those in the field. In her opinion, Docile was the worst option, but luckily that only happened with Universal Omegas who’s biochemistry and wolf didn’t care about compatibility. Feral happened only when an omega went too long without rebalancing their hormones either by injection or direct ingestion.They’d been trying to get her hormones to rebalance for at least a year since her last mission, the mission that had ended the war for good. She’d been Feral. She’d been Docile. Now, she was just plain dying. She smirked at the thought, wondering if the libraries in hell were interesting.

“Is… she okay?”

“Embarrassed, pissed off, but she’ll be fine,” her caretaker said. “You?”

Hermione looked down into the toilet bowl and felt her eyes burn--blood and this morning’s breakfast.

“I could be worse.”

She snorted, “Right. Did the meds take or not?”

“Not.”

The woman sighed and Hermione wanted to tell her to go away. It was no secret that she didn’t really care, seeing Hermione as more of a chore than anything.

 _What a damn drama queen,_ she heard whispering from the back of the woman’s mind.

“You know… just because I’m sick doesn’t mean my powers don’t still work.”

The woman flushed with anger, “Have it your way.”

 _At last, some peace,_ she dragged herself up and stumbled her way back to bed to strip the sheets and toss them into the chute before prying the window open and getting as close as possible to it to breathe something like free air.

The sound of sex and pleasure rattled through the building, filling the air with the smell of it and it made Hermione’s already temperamental stomach nauseous. She smiled at the thought wondering how long it would be before her body caught up to the fact that she was dying. She hadn’t been able to stomach much of anything since arriving here about a month ago, her senses too keyed up to ignore the stench of sex . She supposed she was just metabolizing the ambient magic produced by the activities in the neighboring cells.  

But for how much longer would that last?

From what she could get out of the doctor, her readings, and her own knowledge, she should have been dead by now by all medical accounts. She smirked thinking of her old captor remembering, almost fondly, how he sneered down at her every night, watching her body stitch itself back together, watching her quake from the abuse and interrogation. He’d enjoyed pumping her full of alpha pheromones and watching her eyes glow that mystic purple that marked her as special, watching her writhe and beg but still not give them what they wanted…

_You’re one tough little bitch. I’ll give you that…_

She was a damn Lieutenant Commander--of course she was a “tough bitch”. You didn’t make it that high up in ranks as an omega by rolling over and presenting to every alpha who thought they had some right to control you. You didn't hide what you were by rolling over either. She snorted, the men and women of the intergalactic military had been reading way too much porn if they thought that a little bit of scent and some eye flashing would make omegas hardened in war drop to their feet like they were the Moon’s gift to the universe.

The Moon was dead and she’d left no gifts.

She chuckled a bit shaking her head and getting up as a call came through her screen.

“Hello ‘Mione,” Harry greeted from the screen. “How are you feeling?”

“Better now that I’m talking to you,” she said unable to stop herself. “How are Ginny and the kids?”

He grinned, flushed with happiness, “They’re just fine-- happy, wondering when their awesome Aunt is going to have time to come visit. I thought the war was supposed to be over.”

She laughed, “You know how it goes with the military. If you aren’t mated, they still own you until they decide not to any longer…”

Harry laughed, “Yeah, I suppose so. Ron got discharged. He’s staying with his Mum for a while. I’m sure you’ll be out soon.”

Hermione smiled, “Yeah, I’m sure I will be...Harry.”

“Yeah?” He asked.

“You know… you’re my best friend, don’t you? The brother I'm glad to have met?”

He beamed, “I know.”

She swallowed, “I need you to promise something.”

Harry frowned, “What is it, ‘Mione? You know I’d do anything for you.”

She smiled, “Don’t mourn for me. No matter what happens.”

He frowned, “What’s that supposed to mean, ‘Mione? Are you being deployed again?”

“I need you to promise me. No memorial service, no funeral, not even a wake, you understand? You tell the kids I got lost somewhere. Tell them whatever you have to...Okay?”

He swallowed meeting her eyes, “There’s something you aren’t telling me isn’t there?”

Hermione swallowed, “Comes with the job.”

Harry shook his head, looking down, “‘Mione… I don’t understand.”

“I know,” she said. “I need you to trust me and promise to do this for me, okay?”

Harry licked his lips, “I’ll… I’ll try, ‘Mione. I’ll try.”

Hermione nodded and told him she loved him, to send her love to Ginny and the kids, to live before hanging up before the next rush of pain came, blotting out all sense of purpose, peace, and happiness.

She reached for a book, any of them would do and tried to make the words fall in formation on the page, but it didn’t work and soon she was floating in nothing but darkness where no pain, no voices, and no lies lived.

She was running out of time.


	2. Just Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They say not to give up hope until there is no hope left...
> 
> Viktor thinks that if they haven't reached that point, this last trip is that point.

“Hello gentlemen,” the woman greeted, a collar around her neck and skirt short enough to flash the fact that she wore no underwear. 

Viktor wanted to puke. For moon’s sake, he was a damn Krum! He shouldn’t be at a seedy Omega House so far away from home when the clock was ticking. Choosing an omega for him should have been a far more relaxed and intimate process. It wasn't just because he was a Krum and that came with a certain lineage, but because he was _Viktor_ , he always had standards and held himself to the highest standard possible. Omega Houses had never sat right with him as no matter how clean and polished one was they all treated their constituents like prostitutes. If he hadn't promised to follow every lead, then he wouldn't be here, but...

He'd promised. 

He should be spending it with his family as much as possible. He should…

He shouldn’t have to do this at all, but he was here because he'd promised and Viktor was always a man of his word.

“Welcome to Heaven’s Rapture.”

Ivan took the lead as Viktor looked as ready to bolt from this place as he had the others. Heaven’s Rapture was the last place in the entire universe that they could hope to find someone. They’d been through every Omega House, legal, illegal, shady and pristine, through every omega trader, through every rank and file. He knew that Viktor was running out of time faster than they were using it, but there was no choice. 

Finding out if your pheromones were compatible with someone else’s was a matter of taste. There were other ways to do it, but the standard procedure was taste testing: you had to taste someone else’s slick to find one that was even remotely appealing or compatible. Alpha and omega reactions were notoriously volatile and it seemed that Viktor fell into the category of alpha that more often than not were just left to prowl the wilderness because it was impossible to find the right match. There was either a great synergy or a great discord that could send one or the other spiraling off the deep end as had been the case the last thousand times they’d stopped. Ivan handed over Viktor’s paperwork and they walked down the corridor towards the testing room. She moved to grab the remote and turn on the screen.

“No pictures,” Ivan said on Viktor’s behalf, watching the man relax. The woman froze. “This isn’t… that kind of trip.”

Viktor grimaced. He's right. It wasn't that kind fo trip. As a boy he'd dreamed of meeting the person he would be most compatible with, his mate, in a coffee shop or a bookstore. He hadn't really thought of dynamic, but he imagined the first taste would be a kiss or at least during sex--

He'd had to let all of those dreams go the moment she'd said Overdrive.

“Right…” she said lowering the remote, now unsure what to do with herself. “I’ll… The Warden will be with you soon.”

Viktor took a seat as she left and Ivan sighed. 

“At least this one’s cleaner--”

“Ivan,” he said gravely. “Promise me something.”

“No,” Ivan said with a shake of his head. “I hate it when you use that voice and ask for something. Please--”

“It doesn’t have to be you,” he said. “But… don’t let me run, Ivan. Please?”

Ivan swallowed. 

“And don’t let them operate on me,” he said and looked up. “I know they want to...I know they’re waiting for me to slip to do it.”

“Viktor--”

“Don’t lie to me, Ivan, just… please?”

Ivan swallowed thickly, meeting Viktor’s eyes. They were already hopeless, empty, burning with alpha energy that wouldn’t be controlled. It had taken a long hard run and a lot of time with his younger cousins, tiny babies, to get him calm enough to function after the last time. Viktor was right. He’d been told that if this trip didn’t pan out that they would operate, with or without his permission as he was officially classified as a ward of the military because of his condition.  They would strap him down, sedate him with whatever they had to and mess around with his soul until he couldn’t feel much of anything any longer. They’d turn him into a shell waiting to die rather than lose such a brilliant mind to the wilderness. 

“I know… Mama would let them if she thought it would save me.”

Ivan let out a breath. 

“I can’t be like Dyado, Ivan,” he said thickly. “I’d rather die… or Papa, please?”

Ivan’s gut wrenched at the mention of his grandfather and father. They were both victims of Overdrive. Viktor’s mother was a beta. His father had gone into Overdrive just before Viktor entered the military. He’d gone Feral within a few months and it had been Viktor who’d gone out to find him. His father had nearly killed him while Viktor was trying to get him back to his senses. The older man had died there on a strange planet months later not knowing who he was, what he was, or having any recollection of his family. 

His grandfather had lost his mate to an attack during the start of the war. They’d gotten to him before he’d gone Feral and operated on him. He’d lived but… there was something off about him, a melancholy and loss that would not be assuaged through medication or anything. The man had emptied a round into his own head all of a month after the surgery.

Knowing this, Viktor understood where his Mama’s terror was coming from, her frantic need to find something, why she fed so much money into research into dynamics and synthetic hormones, trying to find something to stop it before it got to this point--but like his predecessors, Viktor’s wolf wouldn’t settle for anything less than what was real. She would rather have to watch over him for the rest of her life with him going through life not quite whole than to lose him to the wilderness forever.

That was why he had to take the decision out of her hands. She was too emotionally involved and no matter how he tried to explain that he couldn’t do that to himself, he’d rather die, she’d just cling to him and beg him to reconsider--to try every possibility.

_ I cannot lose you, Vitya. I cannot lose you too. _

“On one condition,” he said. Viktor looked up. 

“You promise me not to give up,” Ivan said. “You promise me not to… not to chose death over false hope, okay?”

Viktor gave him a smile, “You think I’d have gone to Pleasure’s Armpit if I didn’t plan on that?”

Ivan laughed, surprised that Viktor still had a sense of humor, glad for it as the door opened and the man came in with a tall cart of samples. He felt Viktor tense looking at it and swallowed thickly.

“Hello gentlemen,” he said setting the trays of vials on the table in neat rows. “We’re sure there will be someone here to strike your fancy.”

Every other Warden had said that, in that same tone, with that same voice...Viktor clenched his hand. 

_Blood_ , the voice whispered.

Ivan looked at Viktor, “Would you like to be alone?”

Viktor snorted, taking off his jacket and steeling himself for this, “No.”

Ivan took a seat and the man left them to it, promising to come back and check on them in a bit. 

The process is simple. There was a cup of sterile toothpicks to dip into each vial, no cross-contamination allowed and hundreds of samples to go through. The samples ranged in age, but with the storage technology of the time, it hardly mattered. He knew that the Warden thought it was strange as he was accustomed to having only a select group of samples prepared at a time. When Ivan called for every person they had and specified that they wouldn’t need a slideshow to taste by, he’d been intrigued. Then, again it wasn’t every day that a high-class commander and his handler graced Heaven’s Rapture. They usually catered to lower ranked officers, sometimes whole battalions who had just left the front lines and were due for some relaxation. He entered his office to see Hermione’s caretaker and regarded her file.

“How is she?” he asked.

“She hasn’t eaten all week,” Hermione’s caretaker told him. “She’s on her way out for sure.”

He sighed and nodded, putting her on the list to be transported to the Government’s facility where they took care of such things. It was a shame. She was a highly decorated Lieutenant Commander, instrumental in the ending of the war. To be thrown in here and thrown away for all intents and purposes... how it must have burned her pride especially after the hell she’d gone through. 

It was nearly unheard of for an omega to have gone both Feral and Docile at some point in their life, let alone returning from either with all their mental faculties. The woman was strong, but even the strongest souls had a limit. Her body was deteriorating, she should have been dead months before she was transported here.

Not that you could tell, he thought almost wryly glancing to the camera into her room where she was on the floor doing push-ups over a book. The woman had read through their library within the first week of being there. A scintillating intellect it was a wonder that she wasn’t being kept in a shelter closer to a base considering how often military officials came to visit her for consultations. 

“Did you include hers with the samples?” She froze and nodded, “Well go get it! There’s no sense in causing more problems.”

She moved to hurry away and he shook his head,  _ what a fool. _

*

Ivan hated it, watching Viktor go through the samples, dipping the picks diligently, tasting and discarding it before moving on. His eyes growing brighter with each test. Ivan had long since procured him water to help wash the taste out every once in awhile. Unlike usual tests, he only swiped the least amount possible before spitting it out. It was militant and wasn’t how one was supposed to find someone compatible. But he’d never say that Viktor didn’t hold out hope for his sanity and life to the very end.

_Blood_ , the voice whispered.

Viktor swallowed thickly, shaking and forcing himself through it. 

_ Don't look, Viktor, _ he told himself.  _Just keep going._

He’s on the fourth tray from the last when the woman came in to start collecting the samples he’d already gone through and scanned through the others, clearly looking for a specific sample. Her eyes locked on the last vial in the tray just as Viktor grabbed another pick and dipped it. 

“Uhm, actually, that one--”

_Blood_ , the voice whispered.

Viktor swiped it across his tongue and seemed frozen, his brow furrowed as she reached for it and Ivan caught her wrist stopping her as Viktor set the pick aside and picked the vial out of the rack. He grabbed for a spoon and Ivan held his breath.

“Actually--”

“Quiet,” Ivan hissed, not that Viktor was paying them any attention to either of them, pouring the contents out onto the spoon with a shaking hand. 

_Blo--_

He placed it in his mouth. Ivan wasn’t sure if he was supposed to have a hard time breathing, but it broke with a shout of victory as he watched Viktor’s eyes return to their normal, deep brown that he hadn’t seen for months. Not a trace of that agitated alpha light. His face seemed to regain its former olive glow. He shuddered, gripping the vial in his hand, his eyes closed and he looked at Ivan.

The voice was gone, his mind felt clearer than it had in too long. The darkness retreating to just the bright white of control.

“Ivan…”

“Who is this person?” Ivan asked and she winced. 

“Well, if you’d let me finish earlier, I was going to tell you that she’s off the record.”

Ivan’s brows furrowed, “What does that mean?”

“As of this morning, she was put on the Death List.”

Viktor shot up and Ivan looked at her, “Is she  _ dead? _ ”

“Not yet,” she said. “But even if she weren’t on the list, she’s in failing health--”

Ivan held up his hand, “Find your boss. Now.”

She stammered, but he glared at her making her scurry away to do as she was told. Viktor stared in wonder at the vial, smiling incredulously, relaxed, more relaxed than Ivan had seen him in a long time and his eyes burning.

“ _ Ivan… _ ”

“I know,” he said. “Looks like you’ll get to meet the little lady on the way.”

He nodded with a shaky laugh. His cousin was expecting and at the rate he was going, he’d resolved himself never to meet the newest baby girl Krum. But this… this changed everything.

There was actually  _ hope _ .

*

She looked up as the guard whom she’d incapacitated on her first night in Heaven’s Rapture raised his stun gun at her. 

“Come out,” he said.

She rolled her eyes and stood walking towards him with a knowing smirk, his partner was just a shaky as he cuffed her and proceeded to walk her towards the room. In nothing more than the simple black bra and underwear, customary to Heaven’s Rapture’s more difficult constituents, her hair was wild and curly from exercise, she wasn’t surprised the way they seemed more skittish than usual. The glass was thick, but not thick enough for her not to break through, but she wouldn’t bother with that, what she was intrigued by was the man on the other side. 

Archgeneral Viktor Krum. 

She smirked as his eyes widened seeing her as one of the guards shoved her into the chair. Since she was going to die anyway, she spun on the seat of the chair to land a solid kick to his throat, sending his stun gun flying into the air as his partner grabbed for her hair. She let gravity carry her to flip over the chair, long brown legs swinging up to break the man’s arm as she undid the cuffs and kicked him so his head hit the glass hard enough to knock him out. She dropped the cuffs on the table and settled back into her seat. Viktor stared through the glass, stunned. 

For one, she was a highly trained soldier in her records, seeing her put the two guards down with such ease told him that her records didn’t do her justice. Secondly, she wasn’t what he expected at all. Stories about Lt. Commander Hermione Granger made him think she was much taller than she was, towering over people with eyes as sharp as blades. She couldn’t have been taller than five seven at best, with a plain brown face that was more exquisite because of how she wore it rather than any stunning quality it held. Her hair had just as much, if not more, character than her expression did a large bushy cloud around her head and down her shoulders. It seemed to be resisting gravity just as Hermione Granger seemed to be resisting sense. Her eyes were tired and though she was well-toned, he could tell from the way her bones showed through that she was also wasting away. 

She was sick. 

She was a beautiful conundrum…

A beautiful disaster-- and his only hope.

“Hello Archgeneral Krum,” she said politely. “I’m honored they sent such a celebrity to tell me that I am to be killed.”

His brow furrowed, “Killed?”

“Of course,” she said. “What else would they do with me at this point?”

He licked his lips, “Am not here to deliver such message.”

An eyebrow lifted, “Oh?”

He swallowed, “You...are Hermione Granger, yes? Black Ops Lieutenant Commander?”

She smiled, “The one and only.”

“Why are you here?” he asked confused. “I… cannot understand.”

“I’m an omega,” she said. “A little known fact as it wasn’t discovered until after the fact.”

His eyes widened, but that made sense. Her military profile had no dynamic listed, he thought it was just because they wanted to keep it a secret, he’d never imagined that she’d manifested late or hadn’t disclosed it at all. 

Never imagined that she was an omega either given that, by nature, omegas had a much harder time covering up their dynamic than others. Suppressants usually didn’t work on them, their scent profiles were distinct, and all werewolves, when under stress, manifested their dynamic in the glowing of their eyes.

“An omega, that high up, that powerful, that many secrets,” she said. “I don’t think I have to tell you why I chose not to disclose such information.”

“You... hide from government?”

She smiled, “Hard to believe?”

“Incredible…” he shook his head. “Is not… off topic. You are not mated, yes?”

“No,” she said with a wry smile. “Why?”

He lifted a vial, one that had haunted her dreams along with all the other ghosts.

“I… have Overdrive,” he said. “Beta, synthetic, not work. Will not go through surgery…”

“You came here of all places?” She asked wryly. 

Heaven’s Rapture wasn’t the kind of place a Krum would have gone of their own volition. 

“Went everywhere,” he said. “Promised not to lose hope.”

“So this is a social call,” she said simply.

“Da.”

“What’s with the glass then?” She asked.

He looked shocked, “Was told it was customary. Safer for you.”

She laughed, “You’ve never been to a place like this have you?”

He nodded.

She smiled, “Glass walls are for prisoners, not prostitutes.”

He frowned and he stood, “Are not prisoner, not prostitute, I do not mean to offend.”

“It’s hardly your fault,” she said giving him a smile.

“Will have conversation moved,” he said. 

“Conversation?”

“Da,” he said. “Have… proposition.”

She nodded and waited, watching him with interest. She’d heard of the Archgeneral, from an old family, his family history and the like, but somehow he isn’t what she expected. Handsome in the way she liked but probably wasn’t wildly popular. He looked like a man was supposed to she thought, broad shoulders, sharp lines as opposed to her softer ones, beautiful in his masculinity, neatly shaven, his hair maintained well. He was beautiful and while her instincts stood at attention to take him in, wanting to press herself against the glass the hopes to be closer, she remained in her seat. 

She was dying, not an animal.

“Will walk to hall?” Viktor asked. “Take walk with me?”

She stood, walking over the incapacitated guards and into the hall to see him there in his uniform a hot flush on his cheeks as he pulled off his jacket and offered it to her. She smiled.

“Well, aren’t you chivalrous?”

She took the jacket and buttoned it up, remembering the familiar weight of military uniforms and almost missing her own. She was technically on “leave” until they either killed her or could find a cure for her. He offered her his arm to lead her down the corridor towards the courtyard outside. It isn’t very scenic, but it’s something she hadn’t seen since she was thrown in here after the war. The free fresh air feels different outside than through the cracks of a window she had.

He’s so very warm and tall walking beside her, his jacket like a furnace from his body heat. He was a very high-ranking alpha as well as in Overdrive. Her instincts were telling her to strip right now, but she shoved them away. She had to focus. What could he possibly want with her besides maybe bottling slick every once in awhile?

“You are only omega compatible with me,” he said. 

She looked at him interested, it wasn’t the first time that she’d been compatible with someone, but she’d never been compatible with anyone else, hence the issue. It was, however, the first time that she was singularly compatible with anyone. Others found her taste to their liking but found others also to their liking. Hermione smiled, glancing towards the guards who were following them around, probably waiting for her to try and make a break for it. Fools, she would have done that ages  ago if she’d felt like it. The only problem was that there was no place to go. She wouldn’t risk going to Harry and Ginny to get them in trouble or potentially hurt them. Her parents were dead. She had no family to speak of other than the Potters.

Dying behind bars was just a step above dying on the streets in her mind… at least there were books.

“May I suggest we speak something you’re a little more comfortable with?” She asked. “Bulgarian?”

“You speak?” He asked. She smiled.

“ _ I speak a lot of things, _ ” she said and gasped at the way his eyes flickered red and he flushed. He stammered looking away. 

“ _ Sorry, I… lost control. _ ”

She smiled and looked up at him, “It’s fine. What is your proposition?”

He swallowed, “From what I can tell, you are in need of an out. We find out if we are compatible on a physical level, one month to… see if we are compatible in other ways… but either way, I get you out of here.”

She stopped and he looked down at her, “You shouldn’t be treated like a prisoner or a prostitute because they won’t look for a solution.”

Hermione looked at him, “You understand that I can’t have children?”

Viktor looked at her.

“They tried,” she said. “It never worked out.”

Her sneering captor had made sure to rub it in her face every month that went by without her being pregnant. 

_ Broken little bitch... _

“It is possible that is because whoever  _ tried _ did so with no knowledge of omega biology.”

She blinked. A smart one, dangerously smart and gorgeous in a not so classic Slavic way. He was beautiful honestly, looking at her in her warm brown skin and wild hair like she didn't think anyone would ever look at her. Especially not after being Feral and Docile for so long, it makes something in her stand up and take notice, she'd dare say her wolf along with all those hormonal instincts that told her she wanted sex, the edges of being Docile she knew. 

Omega biology was weird in that way. Her reproductive system was all but shut down if she wasn’t mated, which was great, but it was such a little known fact that she was labeled sterile rather than normal. Mating wasn’t a hormonal thing. She could be compatible with a million people, sleep with them all and her body would never unlock. It was a choice that not even her wolf could make without her consent in some strange way. No one really understood it since omegas made up such a small percentage of the population. An oddity among omegas, closely linked to why alpha and omega reactions were usually so volatile. 

“And it does not matter to me,” he said. “If I want kids, there are plenty who need a good home...I cannot worry about such things when I may not live long enough for it to matter.”

She swallowed looking at him, regarding him fully, “I have friends, family, who will want to see me.”

“I would not keep you from them,” he said. “I do not mean to take you from one prison to a better one. I mean to… give you a life. I will be good to you whether or not we become more than...whatever this would be called.”

“Donors,” she said. “Rather involved donors… medication?”

He laughed, “Da,  _ medication _ .”

“Therapy partners?”

He laughed, his head tossed back, “Prescriptions.”

She beamed, “It seems to be a fair trade. May I have it in writing?”

He reached into his pant pocket and offered her the contract. They walked on and she nodded, signing. 

“Everything seems to be in order,” she said. “So, how do you want to test this?”

He looked at her strangely, “Do we not just go in to be tested?”

She smiled, “We could do that, but I don’t promise their equipment is accurate.”

He frowned, “We would have to go to the base?”

She nodded, “Or you could kiss me.”

He frowned looking at her, “What?”

“Saliva,” she said tapping her lips. “Has just enough pheromone for testing, not enough to be damaging. At the least, I won’t have an irresistible urge to kill you.”

_ Or fuck you, _ depending on her wolf’s mood. The last woman had kissed her and when that didn’t get the reaction she wanted, she shoved alpha musk coated fingers into Hermione’s mouth. Hermione had put her through a wall. Given that every part of her was eyeing Viktor like a fresh steak, she had a feeling it would be the latter option even if they weren’t pheromonally compatible.

Viktor smirked, “I should make it a good one, if that is the case?”

She stilled looking up at him and he stepped back, raising his hands in a show of being non-threatening.

“It was only a joke, I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

Hermione gave him an incredulous look and shook her head, “You didn’t frighten me. It’s just… the last alpha who kissed me ended up with a severe concussion. Not that I liked her very much, but still.”

“I’ll be careful,” he said softly, stepping towards her again, careful to tuck a curl behind her ear, it’s such a tender, intimate thing that it made her heart tremble. 

“Ready?”

She nodded waiting as he leaned the distance to press his lips to hers. Her mouth opened and she heard him groan at the first touch of his tongue to hers. 

It’s a fucking freight train, she’s sure that’s run through her or a lightning bolt, because every part of her can feel it, taste him only from this little bit, things that were broken mending, aligning the longer and deeper he kissed her, wrapping his arms around her and backing her into a building to pick her up and pin her against the wall. Her eyes fluttered, her body growing warm as she chased the taste of him, demanding more, needing more, whimpering and pulling on every male instinct in him. The demand for sex at the forefront of her mind, making her hips roll and her thighs quake. She could feel how wet she was getting already, her underwear would be soaked through in a matter of second from how keyed up she felt.

She wanted him, every bit of her wanted him and damn if he wasn’t going to give it to her, overwhelmingly good. Her body twisted, hips moving desperately against his as his hands twined in her hair holding her head still as he tasted her. Eventually, he pulled back, dazed and awed to see the flickering of mystic purple light in her eyes. 

_ Purple? _ He thought with interest, that was rare. She seemed to be glowing a bit, her eyes devoid of that darkness that they’d been clouded with and full of health.

“Well… I think...think that means we’re compatible,” she said, her English a little breathless as she stared at him. 

His lips twitched as he lowered her back to the ground and nodded, “Da. We leave today, yes?”

Hermione nodded.


	3. God, I Want To Dream Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cookies and kisses solve everything.

She woke up screaming. A seismic shock that rang out through the ship earning Viktor’s scrambling feet across the floor. To think, it was only the first night of traveling back to Earth and she was already waking him up, eyes glowing in the dark and she was on her feet poised for defense when he arrived, panting hands covered in electricity ready to bash through anything. Seeing her he relaxed letting out a breath and let his eyes soften, his offensive down.

“Nightmare, yes?”

She nodded and he approached her slowly as to not startle her.

“Is hard for me to sleep on ship as well,” he said. “Could distract with cookies?”

She smiled, “Cookies, huh?”

“Chocolate chip,” he said proudly. “Is best kept secret of mine.”

She nodded and stood allowing him to wrap an arm around her waist pull a thick blanket over her shoulders and guide her to the craft’s kitchen. It's small enough for Viktor, Ivan and her to travel comfortably. The craft that had not seen Earth since they set out to visit every omega hold in the universe.

Hermione sat down and watched Viktor pull things out of the cabinet before smiling at how diligent he seemed, mixing and measuring.

“Enough?”

Hermione looked into the bowl where he'd dumped in the required amount of chocolate chips.

“Are you making them for children?”

He chuckled and nodded scooping what he deemed to be an appropriate amount before Ivan came around the corner.

“I smell cookies,” he grumbled taking a seat beside Hermione and smiling sleepily at her. “The Krum chocolate chip cookies are the best for whatever ails you. I bet they could cure cancer too.”

Hermione laughed, she doubted it highly, but it was a good sentiment. Humans and werewolves split their lines quite sometime ago, mingled and married between the two species without much care. There were exceptions of each species who saw the other as a mutation or an out of time relic, but everyone served in the military, shoulder to shoulder. Harry came from a human family. Ginny from a werewolf family. They're children were werewolf and human. Hermione’s parents had been human descendant of werewolves and it seemed their ancestry had popped up in their only daughter rather strongly. Omegas were an incredibly rare dynamic, highly coveted and sought after.  The Grangers had taken great precautions to protect her until their dying breath and then Hermione was old enough, strong enough, to protect herself.

“You laugh, but it's true,” Ivan said with a smirk as Viktor pulled them out of the oven.

She had to admit the man could bake a mean chocolate chip cookie, she couldn't even remember the last time she'd had one and relished them. She managed to doze after eating cookies with them.

It was a three day trip back to earth from the Heaven’s Rapture a rather long trip so it was bound to happen, the next night in fact. Hermione couldn't sleep and neither could Viktor. Eyes glowing red and agitated, twitchy and restless. They could hear her up and moving around in her quarters.

“May I make a suggestion?” Ivan asked watching Viktor pace from the couch.

“Da.”

“Perhaps you should go get a dose of omega? Perhaps share some space with the woman you're relying on to keep sane?”

He looked at her and rubbed his neck and Vladimir stood up, pat his shoulder and shoved him in that direction. He was a little wary, not wanting to wake her, not wanting to cross some unspoken boundary, not sure if it was too soon and awkward about the whole affair, but he knocked on her door and watched it slide open at her command. 

She was working out it seemed, doing Burpees. She smelled like heaven and he approached her, a little drugged from the scent that filled the room.

“No sleep?” He asked.

“Da,” she panted and he caught her mid-leap up to pull her against him. 

“Stop, mila,” he said. “Will not help.”

She panted and turned to look at him. His nostrils flared a bit, his eyes glowing as he looked at her and she gasped at exactly how hungry he looked.

“Should… shower…”

“Or… you could touch me.”

He groaned, this woman would be the absolute death of him. 

“Not want to push--”

“Touch me,” she said turning so his hand slid over her breast.”Touch me, Viktor.”

He felt the sound of her voice like a stroke across his neck and spun her around to press his lips to hers, slide his tongue in and tumble them to the ground. She tasted so good, her skin, her mouth, he tugged her long shirt up and over her head to get his hands on her bare skin, tugging the straps of her bra down to lick at the sweat salted skin of her breasts. 

She cried out, arching up into him and sliding a hand into his hair as his mouth found a nipple and tugged. Her brown skin flushed with pleasure and near glowing with the rush of magic into her. 

“More,” she begged, biting her lip and digging her nails into his shoulder, wishing more than anything that he wouldn’t stop.

It was different than anytime before. His magic was gentle in the way it invaded her, but strong and nearly overwhelming with its tenderness, sweeping over her and tumbling her on the tide. There was just so much of it that she couldn't focus on anything. The pull of his mouth on her skin, sinking lower and lower until she screamed and felt the strength of his hands holding her legs open. 

“Viktor! For Moon’s sake--” She choked as his tongue delved into her and he folded her over, drawing up to his knees to keep her open, his bright red eyes staring down at her daring her to try and stop him before he had his fill, no matter how overwhelmed she was. 

Ivan shook his head and pressed his hand to close the door to her room. He hadn’t meant ravish the woman, but it was a better alternative to Viktor’s pacing. He still wasn’t understanding Viktor’s hesitance to actually engage in the agreement they’d signed. From what he could tell of Lt. Commander Hermione Granger, she found the man appealing and wouldn’t be opposed to following through on her end of the bargain. They were actually compatible for Moon’s sake. He shook his head, took four more cookies and headed back to his bunk, glad that they were all sound-proof and glad they were finally getting with the program. They didn’t traipse across the universe to find Hermione just so Viktor could go mad because he didn’t feel he was being chivalrous enough. 

There would be plenty of time for Viktor to wine and dine her when they weren’t on the edge of death or insanity.

Hermione woke up in bed with Viktor curled comfortably and protectively around her. Her head cradled against his chest between him and the wall. She smiled, the alpha protective instincts ran deep in him it seemed, even if they weren’t mated. She felt good, refreshed and settled with a rather hazy recollection of the night before. They hadn’t had sex, but she’s pretty sure that he’d licked her past the point of sense, tasted her until she passed out and maybe beyond…

She wondered for a moment if she would get the chance to do the same…

If she wanted to do the same. 

She worried her lip at the thought. The last time she’d had alpha musk directly, it had set off a very long span of time of being Docile. She’d discovered she was a universal Omega strangely enough and the bastard had had such fun fucking with her that he’d fallen prey to the trap she set and tumbled down his entire organization. He’d had such a great deal of power over her, they all had and she’d resented it so much that as soon as they weren’t sitting on her face regularly or shoving their cocks into any orifice she had she’d gone Feral rejecting and fighting anything and everything even if it was all apart of the plan that she’d designed and agreed to carry out.

She wasn’t sure what would happen with Viktor… 

But if his mouth tasted as good as it did, she could only imagine what the rest of him would taste like. 

Her wolf was fucking confusing. 

“You think loud,” he groaned, pulling her closer and opening his eyes to give her a humorous smile. “Are okay?”

She nodded and looked up at him, “You?”

He hummed moving to stretch a bit before setting back to breathe her in, “Am good.”

“Hungry?” She asked.

He grunted, “Da. Will make food.”

He moved to get up, trying to shake the lazy feeling off before standing and offering her his hand. She took the sheet with her, wrapped herself in it and let him lead her by the hand to the kitchen. He set her at the bar and moved into the kitchen to look for something to eat.


	4. Now, I Am Unbreakable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione meets several generations of the Krums.

Viktor’s home wasn’t what she expected at all. First off, she expected a flat because the man didn’t seem like the type to garden. She was a little wary about the idea having spent so much time in a glass and metal box, but Viktor lived in a decently sized house with enough land around it to farm extensively in New Bulgaria. He carried her suitcase in without being asked and led her into the house. It struck her almost oddly that he was so much of an Alpha even though their arrangement was strictly business.

“Vitya?!” He turned, startled as her eyes widened at the small woman who came around the corner and launched herself at him. 

Viktor gave a wry smile and squeezed her tight, “I’m back. Hi, Mom.”

Hermione swallowed, steeling herself for the inevitable look in the woman’s eyes when she saw Hermione there. The woman looked up at her son with teary eyes, happy before turning to Hermione and wrapping her arms around her, thanking her for helping her son, for being there at all. 

“Come! The whole family is here.”

Viktor gave her a look, “Mom, I thought I said to at least give her a day to adjust?”

The woman frowned, “But Vitya…”

“It’s okay,” Hermione spoke up with a smile. “I’m sure I can handle being around your family just fine.”

Viktor gave her a look, “You may regret that later.”

His mother swatted him and called someone to come into the room. The man greeted Viktor with a hearty hug, a smile and turned to Hermione with an interested gaze. 

“This is my brother,” Viktor said. “Vlad.”

“She speaks Bulgarian?” Vlad asked. 

“Yes,” she answered holding out a hand to shake. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Vlad laughed and pulled her into a hug instead, “You are family now. We don’t shake hands with family.”

He grinned, “Be good to her Viktor, or you’ll regret it.”

Viktor glowered at the man as he winked saucily at Hermione before moving to take Hermione by the shoulders. Vlad grabbed her suitcase and moved to carry it upstairs. 

“My brothers are all fools.”

“How many brothers do you have?”

“Eight… and they’re all betas.”

Hermione snickered as they rounded the corner together and a cheer went up. Viktor flushed and groaned. 

“Mama, why is the whole family here?”

“Because they wanted to see you.”

Hermione smiled as Viktor shook his head and tried to apologize. 

“It’s okay,” she said. “Surprisingly, I’ve been to a few large family functions.”

Viktor had a feeling that they hadn’t been anything like his family but didn’t say anything as an Aunt came up to hug them both tightly and drag Hermione off to mingle with the rest of the family. 

“We promise to bring her back,” she said and Viktor only shook his head, turned to wade his way through his entire family’s need to hug and scent him from the older generations to the toddlers he only knew briefly. 

“If you ever get tired of little Vitya,” he heard Coran say, “I’m free anytime for you.”

He turned and heard Hermione laugh, “Sorry, Viktor’s kind of my saving grace and I don’t go back on promises.”

“She’s prettier than you said,” Henry, a cousin, said rocking his baby girl in his arms. 

Viktor smirked, “I’m not the most eloquent.”

Henry nodded, “We’re glad you’re alright Viktor. We were worried about you.”

Viktor nodded, “I… I was worried too.”

He smiled watching her chat with his family members, mingling her way through th elarge group who all seemed interested in hearing more about her before he made her a plate and went to rescue her. A toddler had fallen asleep in her arms and he winced. 

“Gabriel is very… trusting.”

Hermione chuckled, “It’s an omega thing, no worries.”

Viktor didn’t chance her trying to finagle food with the toddler in her arms but scooped up some meat and rice to feed her. There was something warm in her eyes as he did so and a sound went around the room. 

“What?” Viktor asked, flushed as they gave him knowing looks. 

“We’ll be out of your hair soon, Vitya…”

“And you can be all over her then.”

Viktor had only sputtered and continued to feed Hermione, ignoring his family’s teasing comments. They stayed for hours it seemed and by the time Viktor was saying goodbye to his mother at the door, Hermione thought she’d met all of his family tree that was still living. 

“I’m sorry,” he said wryly. “That wasn’t supposed to happen that way.”

Hermione shook her head, “They’re your family and they were worried about you. It makes sense that they’d want to see you immediately.”

He took a seat on the couch beside her with a groan. At least they’d cleaned up before they left. 

“So… is this the part where we talk a little more?”

Viktor slipped his arm around her shoulders and leaned her into him, “For now… this is the part where we relax after an impromptu family reunion…”

Hermione laughed, “It seemed more like a meet the family even before a wedding.”

Viktor laughed, yes, he supposed so considering the severity of their situation. 

“What… what will happen when you find someone?” Hermione asked. “I mean… do you think you could explain--”

“I don’t think I have to worry about that unless you have someone in mind,” Viktor said looking at her. 

She didn’t meet his eyes, “I’m not… mated or anything like that.”

“I know,” he said. “That does not mean that you do not have feelings for someone.”

Hermione shook her head, “No… none of those… It’s just… I’m not… I don’t know if I could ever…”

_ Mate with someone _ , she thought. Not that she biologically couldn’t and not that she never wanted to, it was just that her instincts were all out of whack and she knew that she didn’t have the kind of appeal as an omega as she should have for the purposes of mating. War veteran, smart as a whip and--

_ Ding Dong… _

Viktor groaned, “No….”

Hermione smiled, “Someone probably left something.”

Viktor nodded and got onto his feet, “We are not done…”

Hermione nodded at his warning and watched him disappear around the corner to answer the door. 

“Archgeneral Krum?”

Hermione tilted her head at the sound of Viktor’s title. There was no mistaking someone from the military. 

“Yes.”

“Is Lieutenant Commander Granger here with you?”

“Yes.”

“May we come in? This may take a moment.”

Hermione sat up, swallowing thickly as she heard Viktor step aside to let the group, maybe three people, into the house and led them towards the living room where they’d been sitting. She recognized him sight and steeled her jaw. He’d been the one to send her to Heaven’s Rapture. Coming in regularly with case after case promising her a solution, a fix to her problem so she could go home… 

It never came and she assumed that he was here because he missed their former arrangement even though the heat in his eyes said something different. She felt dirty under that gaze, the way he always looked at her-- a lustful fascination and obsession. 

“Lieutenant Commander.”

“Admiral,” she said politely and glanced to the two others he brought with him.Viktor took a seat beside her and arm on the back of her neck as if to steady her, or perhaps keep her from jumping up and slashing the man’s face off. 

In truth, Viktor just wanted her to relax, so he needed the muscles there and tried to stave off the rising tension in her, the way her scent shifted almost subtly and the emotions rolling off her shoulders that he could practically taste. 

_ Anger _

_ Betrayal _

_ Kill _

_ Kill _

_ Kill _

“What is it that’s brought you here?”

“The Lieutenant Commander was slotted to be returned to the base, but when we went to collect her we were told that she’d been removed from Heaven’s Rapture by you,” he said. “Given the Lieutenant Commander’s importance and position… you see we could have a problem if we simply allow her to be removed from access.”

Viktor’s brow furrowed and he pressed a little harder on the muscles of Hermione’s neck, sending, just a touch of his own energy into her as his own wolf seemed to be rising to the surface. He didn’t like this guy, nor the way he spoke of Hermione as if she was just some  _ thing _ to be stewarded over, a mindless beast at best.

“The war is over,” Viktor said. “I was under the impression that she was to be honorably discharged anyway.”

His lips twitched, “That isn’t the case. The Lieutenant Commander--”

“My name is Hermione,” she said glaring at him. “If you are here to tell me that I am to be evaluated for my ability to return in some capacity, then you are wasting your and, more importantly, our time.”

He swallowed regarding her. 

“I’ve already spoken with Chief Commander Lovegood about my evaluations,” she said. “I’m surprised you weren’t informed.”

“You--”

“She and I have a good relationship,” she said. “She called me, in fact, the moment that Viktor was registered as my Alpha.”

His jaw set in a firm line, “And your reassignment?”

“Is being taken care of,” she said. “She’s recommended me for military intelligence.”

Viktor smiled serenely as the man flushed with rage. 

“Well… I see that I’ve wasted my time.”

“You have.”

He stood then and Viktor stood to lock the door behind him before laughing and walking back to see her staring holes into the coffee table. 

“You have a history with him?”

“Something like that,” she said through gritted teeth. Viktor moved to take a look at her, eyes glowing a fierce purple, her fangs dropped and she looked on the edge of going feral. 

“Come,” he said gently, beckoning her towards him until their lips met, careful around her fangs until they began to retreat and the blood haze began to fall away. 

“Better?”

She nodded, her eyes still glowing, but she definitely didn’t look hostile still. 

“Let’s… clean up and head to bed, hm?... Unless you wanted a tour.”

Hermione shook her head, “Bed… sounds nice.”

Viktor nodded and took her hand to lead her upstairs.

“Are we sharing a bed?” Hermione asked.

He stopped, “Do you wish to?”

Hermione swallowed, but nodded, “I...I’d rather not be alone right now.”

Viktor nodded and laced their fingers together, “I think I can manage to sleep in clothes this one time.”

Hermione snorted, “Well, good for you because I’m not.”

Viktor flushed and opened the door to his bedroom only to close it before entering. 

“What’s wrong?” Hermione asked. “Left your dirty underwear on the floor?”

Viktor scoffed, “I do not wear underwear most days.”

Hermione’s eyebrows lifted and her eyes drifted down to his belt buckle.

That...would explain quite a few things now that she thought about it. She licked her lips unconsciously and he let out a groan. 

“Do not look at me like that.”

“Sorry,” she said, not sounding a bit repentant. “Blame it on the wolf.”

Viktor glowered at her wolfish smile and grumbled before opening the door to face what horror his family had forced upon him. He turned red, practically glowing in the darkness and Hermione just threw back her head and laughed. 

“It’s not funny, mila.”

If she could breathe around the laughter, she would have told him that it was hilarious. 

“Your family really loves you… and wants you to get laid.”

Viktor shook his head. His family was meddlesome and embarrassing.


	5. The People That Accuse Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why does it seem like everyone is coming for Hermione?

Running. 

It’s the first thing he realizes that he’s doing at eleven fifty-one a.m.. Where he’s running to, he can only guess, but he knows he’s running, out of the base and outside because he feels pulled there to the training grounds where he sees her tearing through a group of soldiers with such a ferocious ease that it makes his stomach turn. Her eyes are glowing purple and he knows…

Knows in her heart that she’s on the verge of no return. A taser hits her and she swats it away, something breaks across her back and she turns with a push of magic that sends them flying. She’s in her dress uniform, while the other are clearly in their training uniform. They were too far away from the training area for this to be an exercise so…

“Hermione!” He called, leaping to land on the edge of the small clearing. She didn’t hear him and he recognized a few of the faces easily enough generals, people that came to his home to speak about Hermione and here they were… 

_ Attacking her? _

Viktor swung hard enough to knock an assailant to the ground before rushing through the madness to grab Hermione. He could feel it in his chest, the teetering edge, that voice that had spoken to him, whispered and dragged him back, the one that he wouldn’t turn around and face. She was turning it seemed. 

They were going to make her lose it again. That was the plan--to take her by force, sane or insane. They didn’t quite understand that Hermione wasn’t the ordinary Omega. Omegas were notoriously easier to subdue than Alphas for a myriad of reasons, but Hermione had magic making her an entirely different kind of difficult. 

He swept low to catch her around the waist and tumble her to the ground, rolling away from the idiots who thought it prudent to aggravate her. 

She screeched at him, fangs dropping, claws out and swiped until he held her wrists down and used his full weight and strength to keep her pinned as she thrashed. 

“Hermione,” he said softly. “Hermione, calm down for me.”

He laced their fingers together, curling them together to press magic into her palms, prodding at her wolf to recognize him. 

She stilled and looked up at him, dazed with those glowing eyes, teeth still out and panting at him. 

“That’s it,” he coaxed. “There we are… shh…”

Her body relaxed and the hissing turned into a low and frightened whine. He released her easily and gathered her close, pressing her face into his shoulder as he soothed her, breathing in his scent. He lifted her from the ground and carried her up the hill past the group who were nursing their injuries. He glared at them, a hot red stare as he memorized their faces. 

“We’re going home,” he said walking back to the building to find Vlad and alert him before continuing to the transport and teleporting home. She panted, clinging to him, shaking as if trying to fight her reaction and fight the voice all at once. He had no idea what happened to make her so resistant to relying on an alpha for pheromones, but there was no way he could let it continue on like this.

When they arrived at the front of his home, he opened the door, walked up the stairs and got her undressed before putting her into bed. She turned with a whimper, latching onto his pillow as he undressed. He tugged the pillow away from her, catching her wrists in one hand as she fought him and pulled her across the bed towards him. 

“Shh,” he soothed. “YOu’re alright.”

She panted looked at him, her claws receeded slowly the longer they touched and he waited, meeting her eyes and breathing slowly lest he be overwhelmed by the scent of her. 

_ Scent?  _ He thought and leaned forward to take another sniff before his eyes widened. 

_ What? _ He thought. 

She smelled like pure sex and willingness, she never smelled like that before… Like… 

_ Docile, _ he thought looked at her in awe. Docile and Feral all at once…. Her body was confused or maybe her wolf was… perhaps for Omegas it was basically the same thing. 

She whined, wiggling, her scent getting stronger and he let out a breath before letting her go. 

She pressed close to him, clinging to him, shaking whining low and scared against him as she cried. 

“I have you,” he whispered, nuzzling her gently. “You’re safe, okay?”

She let out a distressed sound as he tilted her head up to kiss her, flinching back. He held her tighter as she stuggled. 

“Easy,” he soothed. “It’s me. It’s just me. Just a little okay?”

He grazed his lips across her and heard her heart stutter with shock. She blinked, her shoulder relaxed and she looked up at him. 

“There we are, just a little okay?”

His lips brushed past hers again and he grunted at the quick, wet swipe of her tongue across his lips. Pleasure rumbled in her chest and relaxed a little more. He easded her back, barely brushing their lips together, letting her lick his lips at her own pace until she stopped shaking until she relaxed completely back and lay down beside him. Her eyes still glowing, but her heartbeat even, her breathing steady and calm like a trance. 

“Get some rest,” Viktor said, kissing her cheek and letting her snuggle closer to him. “Just rest.”

She rumbled but before long she was sleeping peacefully as he stroked her hair and smiled at the fascinating contrast of her brown skin against his olive complexion. She’d been a tad pale with shock, her skin roughened with goosebumps, but slowly it evened out, a healthy glow returned to her and the sounds she made in her sleep as she shifted were less wolf and more human. 

He turned to answer the phone, careful to speak low into the receiver to Vlad who informed him that there was a suit against him for Hermione. Apparently, his fitness was being questioned by someone in the higher ranks. Chief Commander Lovegood told him that she would do everything she could to get it handled, but for now, it was best to calm down Hermione. 

“She said something about sending Nargles after them.”

“What… the hell are Nargles?”

*

Hermione woke up with a migraine, but in complete darkness, draped over Viktor who was only stroking her hair. 

“Hi,” Viktor greeted. “Migraine?”

Hermione nodded with a wince. 

“Do you think you can handle a little more?”

Hermione tensed, she really wasn’t sure, but she nodded knowing that the migraine was just the beginning, the step right before she got violently sick or went back under. 

“What happened?” she asked, not moving.  

Viktor sat up and pulled her into his lap so her weight settled over his half erection. 

“Later,” he said, sliding a hand up her neck to cup the back of her neck gently. 

Hermione swallowed, but closed her eyes, tense as ever and Viktor looked at her.

“Not like this.” Hermione opened her eyes as he tucked a thick curl behind her ear, “I won’t do it if you’re terrified. We can stay like this for as long as you need.”

But that wasn’t exactly  _ efficient _ nor would it be enough. She could still hear that voice, see those maddening purple glowing eyes everytime she closed her eyes. She couldn’t…

“I--”

“Am terrified,” he said. “I didn’t think I was such a bad kisser.”

Hermione shook her head, “I’m not… Diana, I’m not… you’re not…”

She let out a rough breath, “I… I’ve been Feral.”

“Yes, I know.”

“And Docile.”

He looked at her, “Before yesterday?”

She nodded, “I can’t… I can’t do that again… I can’t…”

“Hermione,” he said looking at her. “We don’t have to do anything you’re uncomfortable with.”

She swallowed and looked at him.

“If laying in bed naked together is all you can take, that’s fine.”

“I’m… sensing a but coming.”

“Perhaps you should understand your triggers before making a decision to forgo  _ anything _ . Okay?”

Hermione nodded and he kissed her temple. She’d be lying if the action didn’t make her toes curl and light up all those omega pleasure centers in her brain. 

Fuck her wolf was complicated. 

“What happened today?’

She groaned, “I went to see Luna.”

It had honestly been a more social than business affair as Luna was going crazy having not seen her to make sure she was okay. Once Hermione’s sanity and health had been affirmed, they chatted about going to see Harry and Ginny, Ron and everyone else they knew from school and basic training. She’d been on her way to visit Lt. Cormac when she’d gotten caught in transit by the particular band of assailants. 

“They… threw a potion on me and… I just... _ lost it. _ ”

Viktor frowned but nodded before getting up and collecting her uniform into a trash bag. 

“I’ll get your clothes analyzed,” he said. “For now, you’re regulated to stay at home and recover.”

She pouted, “What?”

“The library is down the hall and I even picked up all of that gardening stuff you were looking for.”

She ducked her head, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You left the list on the work table outside.”

Her jaw dropped as he smiled, “You have a particularly green thumb?”

“My… my mother and I used to garden together.”

He nodded, “Well… I have a black thumb, so I’ve been told, but I’m always good for heavy lifting.”

She smiled and chuckled at him, feeling a little more at ease before laying back down and turning into the warm spot he’d left. It smelled… 

_ Good,  _ like safety and relaxation and really good sex. It was enough to lull her back to sleep before she’d even realized it.

When Viktor came back, she seemed to be glowing in the dimness of the room a light golden glow over her body, illuminating her under the sheets and he was pretty sure that shouldn’t happen. Rather than question it, he climbed back into bed and found her warm, the scent of her: omega, heady and different once again. 

Perhaps… this is what she smelled like when she was calm? Or coming off a tip towards the dark side? 

He didn’t know, but it was maddening. He closed his eyes and tried to block out the smell of it like he used to block out the smell of blood while in the field. 

Hermione woke up startled, still glowing and amazed that Viktor was just...sleeping. 

Not a stray hand, no sign that he’d even been awake to abuse her sleeping state. If made the glow worse, the want to taste him worse, and her heart light. 

_ For Diana’s sake, get it together, _ she thought and slipped out of bed to find the robe he’d bought her to walk around in when clothing was too abrasive.

She finds herself making breakfast fit for four people as Viktor comes down and wraps her close. 

It’s a little too domestic for what they have, but somehow… it’s perfect. He leans to rest his head on her shoulder sleepily. 

“I didn’t know you could cook…” Viktor said. 

She laughed, “How else was I supposed to eat?”

Viktor smiled and kissed her neck so she shuddered and moaned softly. 

“Is some of this for me?”

“I hope at least half of it is for you since I can’t eat it all by myself.”

He smiled and nodded, spinning her around and bumping his nose against hers. 

“Thank you,” he said and kissed her sweetly before turning to pull out a chair for her. 

Yes, it’s far too domestic for what they actually have, but as she takes the seat and lets him push her in, watches him bring the food to the small table, she can’t seem to care.


	6. I'm Not Scared

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vitkor has an admirer and some people in the military are idiots.

Hermione walked into Viktor’s office and took a seat in the chair across the table from him as Viktor came in to take the chair behind the desk. The door closed and for a moment they looked at one another before bursting into laughter.  People who passed glance at the door but continued on. It wasn’t as if they didn’t already think Viktor was insane for taking an Omega like her, or that she was insane for being an Omega in such a high ranking position. 

They laughed until it hurt to laugh anymore and smiled helplessly across the table. 

“What a bloody idiot,” he said with a laugh. “But I suppose you could make a lot of men stupid.”

Hermione’s lips twitched and that coy, teasing look came over her. It made his gut clench and his wolf stand up in attention. He’d learned relatively quickly that it was usually Hermione’s wolf instincts peeking out, taking the reigns just long enough to give him a sensual tease before Hermione yanked the reins back and got everything back under control. He hadn’t quite figured out why yet, but he had a feeling that he would soon if the frequency with which Hermione was flirting with him recently was any indication. 

Then again, it could have been a side effect of whatever crazy potion they’d thrown on her when they attacked her on base. 

He was still swooning over seeing her working in the garden in nothing more than work boots, cut off shorts, and a cut t-shirt draped over her sports bra. She’d been so beautiful with all that hair and sweat on her skin looking over her shoulder at him, kneeling in the dirt and smiling. 

_ See something you like, Archgeneral? _

The little minx had been teasing him on and off since no matter how hard Hermione tried to stop it.

“ _ Do I make you stupid too? _ ” She asked lounging. 

If there was a time that Viktor could find a uniform sexy, it was on Hermione lounging on that chair with her skirt stretched across her hips like that… 

_ Diana, help me… _

“No comment,” he said wisely and she grinned at him before getting up and he froze as she sauntered over to him to commandeer his lap as her seat, looking at him with a smile. 

“I’ll take that as a yes,” she said. “I was beginning to wonder…”

Viktor glowered at her, “That’s a lie, mila.”

She shrugged, “Well… depends on the extent.”

He chuckled and shifted her a bit to lean back in his chair before kissing her cheek. 

“What would you like for lunch?”

She stared at him for just a moment longer, before that familiar, very clearly Hermione side surfaced with a soft smile. His heart trembled and he prayed that she wasn’t paying close attention.

“I packed lunch for you.”

*

Viktor had his eyes closed, breathing gently and leaned back in his chair when Vlad came in. He was in quite a state it would seem. 

_ Diana, help me... _

“So how’d it… are you okay?”

Viktor groaned helplessly and sat up looked at Vlad, “I… I am fucked.”

“Why is that? What’s wrong? Did they--”

Viktor offered him a something apparently edible and Vlad leaned to sniff and then bite before his eyes widened. 

“What… what is that?”

“Hermione made it,” he said. “And… it’s fantastic.”

Vlad chewed and snorted, “Your omega can cook--”

“We don’t have that kind of relationship yet…”

Vlad’s eyes drifted towards the very extensive lunch box beside Viktor and begged to differ. 

“She… packed lunch for you.”

“Yes,” Viktor groaned. “And it’s… her cookies are better than mine.”

He winced, “That’s rough.”

“She’s growing stuff behind the house.”

“Fresh produce... “

Viktor sighed, “She makes breakfast… and perfect steak.”

“So… you’re fucked.”

“I’m fucked.”

Vlad nodded in agreement as the door opened and Viktor’s assigned secretary poked her head in. She was an omega too and while Viktor had been running around in terror and trying to prove that he wasn’t crazy, Michelle had been vying for his attention, steadily and unerringly. 

“It’s lunchtime, Sir, I’ve got it here if you’re ready.”

Vlad closed his mouth and looked at Viktor as he looked at Vlad. His eyes taking Michelle’s presence in with a startled realization.

“That’s… not necessary, Michelle. I have lunch.”

Her eyes widened and flicked up to Vlad with a tight smile. 

“Of course, Sir… I’ll put it in the break room.”

“Thank you, Michelle.”

The door closed and Vlad looked at Viktor, “So… she doesn’t know… none of the people who work with you know?”

“That my omega-alpha arrangement with Hermione is turning more domestic by the second?” Viktor asked. “No. No one but you knows that.”

“You should probably tell Michelle that much...before she catches you with that lunch kit… seriously what is in there?”

_ Heaven _ , is what Viktor wanted to say since Hermione presented it to him and left his office not even an hour before. He’d regarded the lunchbox with a certain amount of suspicion as he’d never seen it before in his life. He didn’t think Hermione had left the house since the incident without tell him, but there was no telling. When he’d opened it, he wasn’t sure what to do. 

The containers were organized so neatly, perfectly, still warm and ready to eat with a note on top. 

_ I know you get hungrier after noon so there’s snacks in the bottom compartment. _

Bottom compartment was an understatement since it seemed that the bottom was larger than the top. Apples, cookies, roasted nuts, jerky… he was beginning to wonder what she  _ hadn’t _ put in there… considering the lunch she’d made. Soup and a sandwich-- it warmed his heart to think she’d made him lunch, but he wasn’t prepared for how  _ good _ it was. He didn’t know what kind of soup it was, but the sandwich was ham and turkey with a whole lot of delectable artisan additions to the flavor. 

He could have wept at how good it was and wondered what on Earth he did to deserve it considering all the trouble he seemed to be making for her. 

“They say that an omega only does things like this for alphas they find worth of the gesture,” Vlad told him watching Viktor continue to eat, a happy flush on his cheeks and a brightness in his eyes. “Exchanges of such things are also great for forging bonds.”

Viktor swallowed a spoon of soup and gave him a wry smile, “We haven’t talked about that… or anything beyond… survival and sanity yet.”

“Nonsense,” he said. “She’s met your family. I know you.”

Viktor groaned and continued eating, praying that he could man up to have the conversation that was so obviously on the horizon for them. It would be one thing if he could only stand her long enough to get what he needed to keep his head on straight…

It was something else entirely that she was beautiful, sensual, intelligent, witty and downright personable. His family loved her, coming over to check on her, keep her company. She was great with children and his wolf…

His wolf liked her, wanted to pull her close and keep her safe and make love to her until she couldn’t move in equal measure.

He flushed. He sounded like such a  _ romantic _ . 

Unfortunately for Viktor, Michelle had in fact noticed the spread on his desk. She’d even recognized the lunch kit as it had been in Hermione’s hands that morning when she’d come to base. 

She set the platters out dutifully and tried to breathe around the raging jealousy.

_ It could just be a friend. _

She nodded, that’s true. She knew that Viktor had taken an omega into his home, but that was to stave off going Feral, it was temporary until he got himself under control again. She’d done a bit of reconnaisance on Hermione Granger and surmised her as non-threatening. 

“Archgeneral ordered lunch again?” someone asked. 

She smiled tightly, “Yes.”

Never mind that Michelle always brought it to him first so he could have his choices before setting out the rest to the kitchen…. Never mind that ever since he arrived, he always ordered lunch for the entire office if he was eating in. It was part of the reason that she’d been so attracted to him. 

He was such an  _ Alpha. _

She’d checked with Vlad to be sure that he wasn’t bringing Viktor lunch and commandeering his lunch hour with something… 

She’d have to figure out that lunch kit… about Hermione Granger…

*

Viktor made it home with a sigh and lifted his nose to find Hermione. Her scent was faint, she wasn’t in the kitchen, nor in the house…  _ Outside. _

He took a breath and set his lunch kit down on the counter before heading to the back door. The scent of magic hit him before he’d realized it and he frowned, rounding the corner of the house and following it past the garden she’d been setting up to see her twining her fingers in slowly growing vines, her eyes glowing as brilliant green grape leaves grew. 

Grapes…

He’d forgotten that there had been grapes on this land at one point. 

“How are you doing that?” he asked curiously. 

She turned her head with a smile, “I’ve taught myself quite a few things, Archgeneral.”

Viktor’s lips twitched, and followed her as she continued down the row, seemingly finding where the plants had once been and planting a stake there before pouring water over her glowing fingers. He watched it slowly breaking through the wet and magic rich earth, a brilliant green as she threaded the vine around the stake. He watched on. 

“Any chance that your secretary is going to jump me if I bring you lunch again?’

Viktor groaned, “What?”

“Michelle,” she said. “Surely, you know that she… wants you.”

Viktor scratched his head, “I… hadn’t really thought about it in the midst of everything… but yes. I am aware.”

“You think she’ll jump me?”

“I… really can’t say.”

Hermione shrugged and he licked his lips, “Does it bother you?”

Hermione looked at him, meeting his eyes, trying to figure out what he was getting at considering the nature of their relationship.

“Do you want it to bother me?”

Viktor blinked and he hung his head, “Are we… having this conversation now?”

Hermione smirked, “Do you want to?”

“What is that--”

“That I am literally at your mercy, Viktor.”

Viktor licked his lips, but stepped forward to take her hand and pull her back towards the house. She followed easily and once they were in the living room, he sat her down on the couch and breathed. 

“I had no intention of making you feel that way.”

“It has nothing to do with what I feel,” she said. “It’s a fact.”

Viktor growled, “It doesn’t have to be.”

Hermione flinched back at the sound and he blew out a breath. 

“I...I can’t leave this as business,” Viktor said. “I… I just can’t... I like you too much.”

Hermione blinked and he licked his hips again, ran a hand through his hair and looked at her. 

“My wolf is already attached to you. I’m attached to you. Would you… even consider allowing me to court you?”

Hermione’s jaw dropped, “C-Court?”

“Da,” he said, his heart trembling. 

Hermione worried her lip. 

Courting was dangerous. Courting meant eventually--

“Yes.”

They blinked, confused and shocked at the word falling from her mouth. She covered her mouth then and hung her head as Viktor’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. 

She stood up to turn away, but he let out a subvocal growl that had her freezing on her feet, shaking as he stood to come up behind her. 

“It’s okay,” he soothed. “I want you.”

Hermione shuddered as his hands came to grip her shoulders and he pressed a kiss to the spot of her neck just behind her ear.

“Beautiful,” he said, gently. “I'll show you… what it's meant to be if you let me.”

Hermione licked her lips and nodded. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her, content to just hold her as she relaxed in his arms.

“I got a letter today,” she said. “From a very panicked Harry Potter.”

“Potter…” he repeated. The name felt familiar, but he couldn't place why. “Go on.”

“How do you feel about meeting my family?”


	7. It's Unmistakeable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How long has it been since she's seen him?
> 
> Oh yeah, since the last time she'd been fucked by and Alpha.
> 
> Let's hope she doesn't hurt someone at the Weasley-Potter family function.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At last! I've posted it.

It’s odd because, despite all the obvious reasons to be, Viktor isn’t nervous. Hermione, however, was. If the reality of what they’d be walking into wasn’t enough to make him think that he should be nervous too, then seeing her should have done it, yet he still wasn’t nervous. He could feel her anxiety through their tentative Pack bond, but it didn’t seem to affect him. If anything it was making him calmer. 

_ Adverse reaction?  _ He wondered.  _ Or some alpha trait that I never had a chance to explore? _

The latter was probably the truth. Alphas were supposed to provide stability for the pack, it wouldn’t have done any good to be emotionally susceptible to his pack in the long run. One panicked member and the entire infrastructure could tumble down. He’d experienced it in the field but hadn’t ever thought it would happen in his own personal bonding.

Hermione had cleaned the entire house, made a ridiculous amount of food, and worked in the garden outside, but she was still nervous. Since that morning, it seemed that her anxiety had only been growing and the larger it grew the more she worked.  Watching her trying to work out the nerves had made him exhausted. Rather than stepping in to stop her, he stayed out of the way, waiting until she realized that none of it was helping. 

It was all of twenty minutes before it was time to go visit the Potter-Weasley family for their family event that the truth caught up with her. From what Hermione had told him about the Weasleys, the event was bound to be large, loud, full of people, and  _ stressful _ to a wolf who had been pushed as far as Hermione had been. Hell, stressful to any wolf who had been isolated or in the military for as long as they both had. There was no amount of cleaning that would work out the anxiety she was feeling. Viktor had known that before she had started cleaning the house for the fifth time.

Hermione had chosen a blue summer dress to her knees, taken down her thick glossy curls, done her makeup, and still looked like a nervous wreck. Her anxiety was palatable and a little dizzying considering how calm his wolf seemed to be. Her hands trembled and her eyes darted around the room as if she were waiting for the walls to close in on her.

She probably was.

“Come,” Viktor said, holding out his hand. She hesitated but came to waiting for her to come to him before kissing her soundly, being sure to slide his tongue into her mouth and hold her still until she whimpered.

“Relax, mila,” he said. “Just relax.”

Hermione’s hands fisted in his shirt and he licked his lips, “Would you like to talk about this first?”

“I could hurt them,” she said. “What am I supposed to tell them about  _ all of this _ ?”

He shrugged. “Whatever you’re comfortable telling them.”

“What about you?”

Viktor gave her a look that made her duck her head and then cursed herself for it. Viktor wasn’t her alpha. She didn’t have an alpha thus, there was no reason to feel scolded. She didn’t deserve an alpha after--

“Stop,” he said, pulling her out of her head and tilting her head to look at him. He’d felt the spike of doubt, as well the pain and turmoil that came soon after and began to drag her down. 

It seemed that was why his wolf was so calm. He’d heard once that after a certain point, an alpha could not only feel their beta or omega’s needs but become them emotionally and project them through their bond. She needed the anchoring and he was more than willing to pull her out of her spiral before they started.

_ Seems like we’re closer than we thought. _

“What were you just thinking?” He asked.

“That I shouldn’t act like I’m scolded with you.”

“Any particular reason why?”

“You aren’t my alpha,” she said through her teeth. 

Viktor watched her expression change. It had just been a flash of anger, resentment maybe, at the words. Perhaps it had actually been because she wanted him to be and he wasn’t? Because her wolf wanted it and Hermione didn’t? His bond gave him no further insight into that beyond the fact that he needed to be as relaxed and as stable as possible.

“Yet,” he said. “I am courting you, Hermione. Does that not count for something?”

Hermione blew out a breath and turned away. Viktor watched agitation stiffen her spine. Her hands quaked. She got free of him and paced. With every step seemed to be more on edge. It was much worse than he thought. 

“I--”

“Need more,” Viktor said, holding out a hand to her. “But I’m not sure if you’re willing to take it.”

She swallowed the rest of her sentence and met his eyes. Her phone chimed telling them that it was time to get going if they meant to be on time. 

“I--”

She shut her mouth at the flash of his red eyes and stilled. Her insides were a mess. Confusion, anger, fear-- Viktor could hurt her. 

_ He wouldn’t. _

**He** **_could_ ** **,** her wolf retaliated.  **_You thought they wouldn’t before too._ **

She shook her head, “And now look where it’s gotten me.”

Her voice is far away when she says it. It’s clearly not meant for him, but he listened and filed it away with the rest of the questions and partial answers that went into figuring out Hermione. Her eyes glow with her wolf’s surfacing and though the eyes are looking at him, he knows that she isn’t seeing him. 

“Mila,” he said, reaching out to her. 

Her body moved, swinging a curled, glowing fist at him. He caught her wrist and pulled. She tumbled towards the couch and he pinned her beneath him, pressing her wrists to the couch as she growled at him.

“Hermione,” he growled. “Come back to me, mila.”

She blinked, slow and only half conscious. The wolf’s light still burned in her eyes, but she seemed to recognize him. 

“Come back to me,” he said softly, leaning to nuzzle her until she blinked the light away and tears followed. 

He hushed her, sitting up and pulling her into his arms as she hid her face in shame. It had been weeks since the last time she’d completely lost control like that. Weeks of something like normality, stability. Diana, she’d been talking to herself just moments ago. Her wolf splitting off from her consciousness and the ugly, evil voice rearing its head in the space between them.

She thought--

She thought--

“H-How am I supposed to--”

“Not every day is a step forward, mila. If Potter and the Weasleys are your friends as you say, they will understand that.”

She swallowed a hiccup and clung to him. 

“ _ Viktor, _ ” she breathed, clinging to his stability and whining for the comfort of his presence.

If perhaps it sounded more like Alpha to his wolf, he really couldn’t be blamed. She sounded so small and lost-- desperate for comfort and reassurance. He nuzzled her, squeezing her tightly against him so she could feel and smell him. They remained on the couch long past the time Hermione’s phone rung again. 

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“On the way there,” she said.

Viktor smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead before stand with her to grab his keys and escort her out. The drive to the transport station was quiet. Hermione only squeezed his hand tightly as he drove. He kept her hand in his even after they got out of the car and boarded the transport. From his calculations, they’d make it on time. He smiled. Leave it to Hermione to give herself enough time to panic. She remained pressed to his side as they were carried towards the London Station. 

“Harry is the only one who knew I was an omega before I entered the army. We knew each other from school.”

Viktor squeezed her to his side, encouraging her to continue. She told him why she and Harry were so close. They’d been through hell together in school between bullies, terrorist attacks on their home base, and his horrible guardians. His best friend, Ronald Weasley, had gone into the military about the same time she had. She and Ronald had been in the same platoon and she’d promised Harry to look after him. When their platoon had been captured, most of the platoon had lost their minds because of the drug they’d all been given, Ronald, being a beta, had escaped it along with her. 

“It was targeted for alphas,” she said. “But they didn’t take him out of the cell when the alphas started advancing on me.”

Viktor squeezed her hand tighter, “You think he will treat you differently.”

“I think seeing him will set me off and I’ll hurt someone. I’m not exactly balanced, Viktor.”

“We could fix that before we get there.” Hermione cringed at that and Viktor squeezed her hand, “Or you could trust me a little more and let me be there for you.”

She didn’t look at him.

“I know we’ve only been officially courting for a little while, but your wolf does recognize me as someone to be trusted.”

Hermione couldn’t argue against that, no matter how she wanted to. She  _ trusted _ Viktor. Her wolf  _ trusted  _ Viktor and, while it would take some time to get used to, she couldn’t ignore that. 

“Trust me to keep you anchored,” Viktor said, taking her hand. “Trust yourself to have control.”

Hermione swallowed and said nothing as the transport stopped at London Station and they walked towards the jump terminals. He held her hand as she keyed in the coordinates and followed her onto the platform. 

“Okay,” she said. 

Light swirled around them and for a moment they were nothing before coming back into existence at the bottom of a hill. Hermione lifted her head, squared her shoulders and began to walk towards the summit. 

From the distance, he could hear the sounds of music and children, lots of people. He smelled a buffet of food. To his senses, it seemed like every family event should be: loud, warm, and with way too much alcohol.

As they reached the summit a large old house began to rise out of distance. Viktor squeezed her hand a little tighter to make sure she was with him. She squeezed back and then someone recognized her. 

“Auntie Mia!”

She felt herself smile at the name as the little girl rushed towards her, practically tumbling to plaster herself against Hermione’s legs. In just a moment, Hermione had released his hand and swept the little girl up into her arms to spin around and squeeze tight. 

“You’ve gotten so big, Lily!”

“Daddy said you might not come, but I knew you would. We missed you, Auntie Mia.”

She swallowed and squeezed her, rocking her gently, “I missed you too, sweetheart.”

Viktor followed her into the party as the music began to soften and more people began to realize that she was there thanks to Lily’s announcement.  Viktor felt their attentions on them, felt Hermione tense up, but the weight of Lily in her arms seemed to ground her effectively. He didn't even have to touch her to feel it.

_ Home. _

“Hermione’s here?” Someone asked and he heard someone scrambling around the corner. 

To his nose, the man seemed human. Messy dark hair, brilliant green eyes, and glasses that were slightly skewed. His scent was similar to the little girl in Hermione’s eyes. 

“Hermione?”

She looked at Harry, who looked no different than the last time they’d spoken through that small screen. His kind eyes took her in, glancing briefly to Viktor before he came towards her and pulled her close. 

“ _ Mione, _ ” he whispered, thickly. “Diana, I never thought I’d see you in the flesh again. What--How--”

Hermione squeezed him back, nuzzling him gently, “I missed you too, Harry.”

Viktor smiled, watching the scene. Eventually, Harry turned to introduce himself. Hermione took Viktor’s hand. 

“I’m courting him,”Hermione said. “Or… he’s courting me. My alpha--in trial.”

Viktor chuckled and shook Harry’s hand, “Viktor. It’s nice to finally meet you, Harry.”

He nodded and led them towards the table of food and took them around. There were so many hugs that Hermione was almost dizzy from all the scents. When she encountered Ron, her stomach flipped. In his eyes, she saw the memories of that day. 

“Er, hey, H-Hermione,” he said, scratching his head. “H-How are you?”

Viktor squeezed her hand. She nodded and walked towards him to hug him tightly.

“Thank you,” she said softly and felt Ron relax. He wrapped her close and squeezed. 

“Y-You’re okay, right? Like… you’re not--”

“I’m getting there,” she said and let him go. “And I happen to have this man to thank for that.”

“Auntie Mia’s dating!”

It’s hours of food, alcohol, and family. There are so many people to hug, to reconnect with, to introduce Viktor to that she doesn’t really have time to worry about freaking out. The kids challenge her with water balloons and the next time Viktor sees her, she’s soaking wet and wrapping shivering children in towels. It’s closer to dawn when Viktor scooped Hermione off the ground where she’d fallen asleep watching movies with the children. Their parents came to collect them one by one and he bade them all goodbye. 

“Let’s not wait another several years,” Harry said looking at Hermione and then to Viktor. “I know I can’t ask you to promise that, but...could you just… tell her that?”

“I’ll tell her,” Viktor assured, glancing for a moment at Hermione's sleeping face. 

Beautiful, serene-- gone was the stress of earlier before they'd arrived. She'd run herself to the ground playing with the kids.

“Your mother,” Viktor continued. “Mrs. Weasley has our address, in case you want to visit.”

His eyes widened, “She’s living with you?”

He nodded, “She is. She’s safe. I promise.”

Harry sighed with relief, “Thank you for taking care of her. She never let others do it, so it’s good that she’s finally giving in to her instincts.”

_ Harry knew _ ? He'd considered it a possibility, but the confirmation was astounding. He was sure that he and the dark-haired human would have a lot to say in the coming days.

Viktor chuckled, “Is not what I would say. More like...necessary surrender.”

Harry laughed but found that he couldn’t disagree.


	8. Forget The Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If only it was that easy...

Harry and Ginny arrived not even a few days later at the insistence of Mrs. Weasley to bring them leftovers from the party and to check on Hermione. 

_ He seemed nice, but you just can’t trust everyone. I won’t have Hermione being lost again. _

Harry only chuckled. Normally, her blatant xenophobia would have irked him, but it was overshadowed by the obvious concern she had for Hermione. Still, was it necessary to have that much food? Wolves, military or not, they were only two people. 

Harry had a feeling that Molly would never truly learn to cook for a normal sized family.

“I’m interested,” Ginny said as they drove towards the address Molly had given them. “I’ve never been to Bulgaria either.”

Harry had and once they crossed the border of the country, he could honestly say that it had changed a lot since the last time he’d been there. It had always been a beautiful country, but it seemed that with the war over they’d put extra effort into revitalizing the landscape. The rolling hills and lush forests made him relax just watching them go by. He could only imagine how calming it was for werewolves.

When they arrived, Harry wasn’t sure what to make of it. The nearest neighbor was miles away. The house, as beautiful and as large as it was, was surrounded by land and facing the sea. From his research on the Krum family, he’d expected Viktor’s house to be in Sofia, or at least farther inland.  Their address was in sunny, seaside Ahtopol. Ginny let out a low whistle.

“What exactly does Viktor do for a living? Perhaps you should go into the profession.”

Harry nudged her, “Really?”

“What? Bet they go skinny dipping in the ocean all the time.”

Harry rolled his eyes and handed over the documents he’d gathered on Viktor per Molly’s request. A highly decorated Archgeneral, just returned from the front lines and still active. The man didn’t even have a parking ticket and had acquired his relationship with Hermione through all of the appropriate channels it seemed. 

“And how exactly did they meet?” Ginny asked curiously. “You told me that Hermione was on mission or something.”

“Well, ‘Mione wasn’t exactly clear on what she was--”

Someone shrieked from inside the house. Harry and Ginny jumped out of the car and rushed to the door to knock loudly.

“Hermione?!”

The door opened to reveal Viktor with a wry smile and a thick red substance on his face. Ginny’s eyes began to glow, her claws dropped and she froze, sniffing. 

“Harry, Ginny, what a surprise,” Viktor greeted. 

“Wha-what is that on your face?”

He frowned and reached his swiping through the sticky mess and putting his finger in his mouth. He let out a pleased hum.

“Blackberry jam,” he answered. “Come in. Hermione is in the kitchen.”

Harry went in as Ginny went back to the car to grab the containers. Hermione stood barefoot in shorts and a tank top, an apron around her neck, mixing something in the bowl. If he wasn’t sure that the woman in the kitchen was Hermione, he would have been confused because in all the time that Harry had known Hermione, she’d never struck him as as the cooking and baking type.

“Viktor, I swear--”

She broke off and turned to look at Harry. 

“Harry?”

He looked at her, “Erm, hi, Mione.”

She took him in, sniffed, and huffed. “Molly?”

“Molly.”

She rolled her eyes and set the bowl aside to come hug him, careful of whatever could have splattered on her apron.

“I assume Ginny is here too with leftovers?”

“You know she worries about you.”

“Right.”

It was more like Molly worried about her, worried about foreigners, and really wanted Hermione in the family. She shook her head happy to see Harry anyway. Today was turning out to be a good day, despite the twinge of pain in her chest. 

“So, why did Viktor have jam on his face?”

Hermione huffed, “Because he likes to steal my jam while I’m not looking and he surprised me!”

Viktor appeared, grinning and setting the containers on the counter. 

“Is best chance,” he said easily.

Hermione swatted his shoulder and Harry was beginning to understand that Molly’s concerns were completely unfounded.

*

Harry and Ginny don’t stay long, apparently sensing that they were intruding on some unspoken time reserved for just Viktor and Hermione. Hermione waved them goodbye from the front door and went back to fending Viktor away from her jam. In the end she loses, stumbling in the kitchen as a wave of dizziness overtakes her. Viktor swept her off her feet. 

“You have not slept,” he said sternly.

“That’s not--”

“And you are holding back.”

She shut her mouth at that. There was no denying the second one. The pain in her chest, the shakes, her dizziness and he oddly domestic feelings she’d had all day. She didn’t meet his eyes as he set her down on the couch and licked his lips. 

“Just a little,” he said. “Preferably before you make yourself sick.”

She let out a breath but nodded and opened her mouth. He cupped the nape of her neck and pressed his lips to hers gently, startling her. It’s a slow, dragging kiss that makes her dizzy and takes the edge off. It’s enough to make her want more until he pulled back to meet her gaze.

“At your pace,” he said. “Until then, is this okay?”

She nodded and closed her eyes. Viktor’s lips were as soft as ever and as demanding as ever as well. She felt herself melt and retreat from it all at once. Resisting and begging for more--

_ More. _

_ I can’t. _

_ MORE. _

“Don’t fight it,” Viktor breathed, pulling back briefly. “You’ll make it worse.”

“I can’t help it,” she said. “It’s instinct at this point.”

He sat back and regarded her carefully, “Your wolf does not trust me fully.”

“It isn’t you,” she assured, squeezing his thigh as she tried to make sense of her emotions. “It isn’t you.”

“Then it’s my dynamic.”

“Something like that.” She said. “I don’t want to be dependent like that ever again.”

“I would never take away your freedom,” Viktor said easily. “But you cannot go on like this.”

“I know.”

“Then what would you have me do?”

“I don’t know!”

Viktor remained quiet, watching her. Whatever she was fighting herself about seemed to come to an end with a deep sigh. 

“The mission that ended the war took a turn for the worst,” she said. “We were caught-- a double agent.”

Viktor swallowed and took her hand.

“You can imagine that the plans changed quickly if they were expecting an all alpha group.”

Viktor frowned. 

“They turned me Docile,” she said. “But I wasn’t so lost to give them what they wanted. I turned myself Feral all at the same time.”

Viktor flinched.

“I’d planned for it though, a contingency that only I could have been aware of…”

Viktor nodded slowly. A dangerous contingency plan that could have backfired, that had in some ways. He didn’t say that thought, sure that Hermione already knew. 

“You understand?” Hermione asked. “I could kill you.”

Viktor snorted in spite of himself and she frowned, “You think I couldn’t?”

“I knew that when we met, Hermione,” he said honestly. “And I still brought you here.”

Hermione met his gaze and he smiled at her. Taking her hand, he squeezed and leaned back into the soft cushion of the couch. 

“When you’re ready for it all, I will be here, Hermione,” Viktor said. “But I’m not going to hold back on giving you at least this.”

Hermione allowed him to pull her close, leaning against her enough to take over her senses with his presence. 

“I mean to have you,” Viktor told her. “I mean to be your alpha in every way possible.”

Hermione smiled. 

She wished that it was just that simple. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, everyone! It's been absolutely crazy. My internet has been out and Hurrican Harvey threw everything out of whack. With any luck, I can catch up with posting and things before classes start back up and the rest of my life bowls me over. LOL


	9. Take Me Where I've Never Been

It’s happening again in the exact same way it always does. 

It always starts off fine. Hermione and her wolf are in accord: Viktor tastes good and by the moon he had skillful hands. They get their shirts off, pants if applicable. Then, it’s underwear and suddenly they’re naked together. Viktor’s scent unmuted by the layers of clothing-- male,  _ alpha-- _

She hears herself growling and the fatal twist in the plan. For all of their slow goings, for all of the logic of the situation, her wolf  _ always _ backs out at this moment and Viktor’s wolf retreats. 

She can’t figure out if they would rather have her snarling ready to pounce on them than running away completely. He lifts his weight off her, eyes glowing red in the darkness and it’s a the bleak moment that she always hates when they do this.

He just stares and part of her is whining, desperate and pleading for him not to abandon her. The other part is simply waiting for his next move so she can bite his fucking head off. 

The purple light of her eyes lights the planes of his face, mingling with his alpha red glow. All the times before he simply sat up, asked if she was okay, and proceeded to lay next to her. He cuddled her close, stroked her hair and hushed her panicked breathing in the dark. 

They woke up in the morning just as sexually frustrated and in the exact same place they’d been in for  _ months. _

It hurts that she’s simply waiting for him to do it. Almost hoping that he was get up, get dressed and leave, or throw her out or--

She froze. 

His eyes haven’t lost their glow. His expression still tender and tipping towards commanding. His fingers curled around her neck as her lips curled into a meaner snarl, she felt her fangs dropping, but her body didn’t move otherwise. 

The hand is gentle, meaningful pressing with just enough pressure to make her be still. It’s frustrating, confusing, and exhilarating all at once.

What was he thinking? She couldn’t guess from his scent as it was just alpha and desire. His expression was as tender as it had been every other time.

What was he thinking?

What should she do?

What was she doing?

What was he--

She gasped at the low rumbling growl coming from his chest as his fingers tightened just a fraction around her throat. It rumbled through her, foreign, confusing, beguiling and--

And--

She whined, twisting and his fingers twitched. Another growl came and she stilled. 

Low, warning-- wanting…

_ Alpha? _

He growled again, meeting her gaze in the darkness. 

_ Submit to me,  _  it said. He’d never growled at her like that before.

_ Let me have you, _ it said. 

He’d never--

_ Mine,  _ it said.

She bared her teeth at him growling back. A snarl of resistance that she choked on as he rolled his hips against her. She shuddered and flinched at the spike of arousal that shot through her.  She closed her eyes tightly, growling as he continued to rock against her. 

Then, she felt it. Not the hard ridge of his desire, but the tingling of alpha magic sinking into her, his power, his influence, his desire. 

_ Oh moon, no! _

She twisted, trying to fight it off with her own magic, but the roll of his hips was deliciously distracting and he  _ clearly _ had more skill at manipulating other dynamics than she did. He never did this before. 

He’d been holding out all this time. 

_ Traitor! _ She thought desperately as it slipped behind her defenses, just between the slots in the emotional wall she was hastily throwing up around her wolf. She panicked, at this rate, he’d--

He’d--

She grabbed the wrist above her and screamed as it hit her. 

_ Mine,  _ the growl said.  _ Let me in. _

Mentally, she withdrew, scurrying back into the darkness and he chased her. 

_ Shit _ , she thought. He’d been using all these times to learn her, to  _ feel _ her defenses. To find the gaps between the shields and find a way to slip through. 

There. 

Here.

Now. 

_ Then?  _ She wondered looking around the immense plane. She ws never really sure. She didn’t like to delve this far into her magic or her own mental space. It was dangerous to say the least. Not even a few feet from her was her wolf. 

A beautiful wolf with fur as black as shadows, eyes of a glowing purple, ripped and torn, tattered and bleeding with her back against the shadow. Had she always looked so weak? So battered and bruised? She can feel it, the drops of her sanity and self, her wholeness sliding through thick black fur and darkening the shadow that would soon claim her life. She feels as weak as the wolf looks, shaking with the effort to stand, teeth shiny with blood and bared at the presence behind her. 

She turned to see Viktor there. His expression as tender and as impossible as it was above her every time before. 

_ Don’t come any closer,  _  she thought. Hearing it like a scream that echoed from far away. She moved to stand between her wolf and Viktor, but Viktor only walked through her.

_ How? _ She thought. She turned around. The shadow seemed to be growing darker. Her wolf sinking under the weight of her injuries. 

How long had it been this bad? She thought being with Viktor was supposed to fix it! A hairline fracture appeared above them, growing larger above them. 

What was breaking?

This was her mind.

“Mila,” he said evenly. Her wolf collapsed and she fell, too weak. Her heart pounding and the world spinning. 

Through the eyes of the wolf, she could see him reaching towards her. She snarled.    
They snarled. The wolf and herself ready to bite his hand off though she barely had the strength to keep her eyes open now. Heart rate slowing.

Slowing…

She felt so heavy.

So very tired…

Had she always been so tired?

She can barely hear her own heart beating now, listening to the sound of his heart so slow and even. It’s comforting and terrifying. He was so calm and her heartbeat was fading!

Was she dying?

What the hell was happening to her?

“Let me take care of you, sweet,” he said, letting the sentiment echo through his magic and swirl around her. She flinched, thrashing, fearful, crying out in terror and trying to get away from him. She and the wolf jerked, finding a spike of strength to flinch away from him. 

“You’re going to destroy yourself if I let this continue and I’m not having it, Hermione.”

_ Kill… _

She gasped, “Viktor, go!”

*

He heard the voice from the shadow. Heard her heart rate spike before continuing to slow down. She and the wolf crawled away, strange mirrors of one another. He recognized that voice, it had haunted him too until they met. He watched the shadow swarm around them both. Hermione threw herself over the wolf as the shadow bit into them both and she screamed, dragging their bodies along. Neither of them seemed to understand which was was safety and unwilling to chance the wrong decision, they decided to curl up and try to make it out alive. 

He could hear her sobbing, fighting him physically, begging him to go away lest she hurt him even though it was his hand around her throat.

Diana, she was so  _ strong _ . 

There was so much power in her and it was driving her crazy. Omegas needed a place to belong, acceptance, a place to use their powers not for themselves. The overdrive had simply aggravated her instincts, especially since it was set into motion by trauma. Her power turned inward to fight it off and destroy it even if it meant killing herself in the process. 

Rather than waste the time to help her combat it, he pulsed more power into her, careful to get it around her wolf and hold her still, her magic and body all at once. Both of them batted weakly at the shield he provided, growling at it. 

“Hush, mila,” he said. “Before you kill yourself, you understand? Don’t fight me.”

They bared their teeth at him, twin purple glowing eyes.  She was so beautiful, brilliant and teetering on the edge of somewhere no one could follow her. He held out his other hand felt her teeth, metaphysical and real, sink into his hand, hard and vicious enough to draw blood. He didn’t move letting her hold on, to get a taste of his blood, his magic, and let his intent wash over her physically and metaphysically.

_ Safe?  _ Her voice asked from the fractured sky.

“Yes.”

_ Love? _

His eyes burned as her fangs remained in his hand. 

“Yes, mila.”

... _ Alpha? _

“Only if you want it.”

She froze and her eyes moved up towards his face. Slowly, her jaw relaxed, the wolf and the woman seemed to be in agreement to release his hand from their mouths. They drew back, taking turns to lap at the wound with a low whine of apology. He could feel her actual tongue licking his other hand with pressing against the hand around her throat. The shadow shivered, pushing against the shield, but Viktor ignored it. 

“Shh,” he soothed, relieved that she wasn’t so far gone. “It’s okay.”

They whined and the wolf vanished as she drew herself up against him.

Her body relaxed beneath him and he removed the hand from her throat. He sat up and drew back. She sat up her gaze tracing the curves and dips of his body intently. 

“Easy,” he said. “At your pace.”

He hadn’t thought that pace would be as fast as it was. Perhaps because she had already tasted him, perhaps because she and her wolf had finally come to an understanding about his intentions, perhaps it was the thick shield of pure alpha magic that was keeping the shadow of her trauma and overdrive haze at bay-- he really had no idea. 

What he did know was that her mouth was hot and wet on his skin, licking and sucking her way down until she could sink her mouth down over him. He grunted at the shock of heat and the eager suction of her mouth. Her mouth and throat tightened around him and the vibration of her moan rippled over him, forcing more of his wolf to surface.his cock into her throat and humming with appreciation. 

“A-as much as you need,” he breathed, stroking her hair gently. 

He was careful not to place any pressure on her head, not to cage her, to let her have control even as she seemed completely willing. Hermione was finally letting herself obey her instincts, finally giving them both what they so desperately needed to survive their biological imperatives. He could see the shadow dissipating outside of the shield he kept her safe in and he leaned back, closing his eyes. 

Words of praise fumbled their way out of his mouth as he simply enjoyed the pleasure of her mouth and her wolf drinking from him. Her gentle hands wandered over his skin, eager to touch, eager to hold and explore. She pulled back and began to lick him wherever she could.

“Good,” Viktor panted. “Whatever you need, Hermione.”

Viktor quaked as her gaze met his, glowing that strange violet that he still didn’t understand before her mouth latched onto his nipple. He cursed and let his head fall back murmuring praise to the moon and praying that he’d survive this. 

When she sunk down onto him, impossibly wet and moaning, he doubted that he would.

But he sure as hell wasn’t going to complain.

*

Viktor woke up alone. Every inch of his body thrumming with exhaustion and pleasure. A shimmering, hot bond twitched in his chest, shocking him.

_ Hermione, _ he thought with a smile, pressing a hand to his chest. 

By the moon, he could  _ feel  _ her. She was downstairs in the kitchen, a glowing, completely whole and aligned werewolf full of power, wonder. A rush of tenderness pulled him from bed and down the stairs. She turned around just as he rounded the corner to smile at him. The light filtered through the window. Pots and pans floated around assembling what he could only guess was breakfast.

“Good morning,” she said. 

Viktor didn’t speak but walked towards her and wrapped his arms around her. He slid a hand into her hair and held her close. She was warm, familiar. She nuzzled his shoulder and any resistance, any hesitance that he usually felt was gone. The bond pulsed warm and heady, close and brand new. 

His eyes burned.

“I love you,” Viktor told her.

“I know.”

“Marry me,” Viktor said and she laughed, pushing back and looking up at him. He felt his cheeks heat, embarrassed that he’d said such an insane thing.

“Feeling a little open?” Hermione asked with a wry tilt to her lips.

He glowered at her and turned them to pin her against the counter and press a kiss to her lips.

“Disregard my wolf’s insanity,” he said. “He’s still a little on edge about losing you. New bonds and--”

“Yes,” Hermione said easily. His breath caught. “But when we tell the story of how you asked, it’ll be far more exciting than standing naked in the kitchen.”

Viktor swallowed past the dry patch in his throat and stared at her like she was impossible. 

But he had a feeling that he would look at her a lot like that for the rest of their lives.

A knock sounded at the door. He scented the air and groaned. 

“Why are they here?” Viktor asked.

“Because family, in my experience, always know the best time to interrupt,” she said. She kissed his cheek. 

“I’ll get robes.”

“Right,” Viktor said, lumbering towards the door before they decided to magic the door open. 

Knowing his cousins, it wouldn’t take long.

The door opened and his brother Ivan shrieked in horror.

“Put some damn clothes on!”

“Wait until someone opens the door for you,” Viktor said and shoved the door closed. Hermione walked towards him offering him his bathrobe. 

His eyes widened at the silky robe she wore and he growled.

“Absolutely not.”

Hermione snorted, “Would you like the silky robe then?”

He offered her the terrycloth robe and she laughed, trading with him. He opened the door glaring at his brother.

“Vitya, I didn’t know silk was your thing.”

“I’ll kill you,” Viktor said as Hermione laughed and wandered back to the kitchen. She made breakfast and drifted back up the stairs to dress for the day as Viktor bickered with his cousins and brother in the foyer. 

She came down fully dressed and a purse on her shoulder.

“I’ll see you later.”

He caught her hand and glared at his family until they wandered towards the living room.

“Call if you want me to pick you up?” Viktor asked.

Hermione smiled, “Sure… or you could pick me up and we can have lunch together.”

He smiled at that and nodded. She placed a slip of paper in his hand, kissed his cheek and nuzzled him before wandering out and vanishing a few feet away from the door.

He looked down at the scrap of paper and he smiled. The address was familiar-- a psychiatrist that had been added to Hermione’s recommendation list. It was the same place Hermione had been refusing to go to for months. 

He guessed that maybe he’d done something right.

“Vitya!”

_ Except let his family in his house. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... that only took forever! Thanks for reading guys!


End file.
